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EDUCATION  THROUGH  ACTIVITY 
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COMMUNITY  TRAINING  SCHOOL  SERIES.  NORMAN  E.  RICHARDSON,  Editor 


Junior  Method  in  the 
Church  School 

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I  00  i  3  7  1923 

BY 

MARIE  COLE  POWELL 


tfeMlostoufei 


THE  ABINGDON  PRESS 
NEW  YORK  CINCINNATI 


Copyright,  1923,  by 
MARIE  COLE  POWELL 

All  Rights  Reserved 


Printed  In  the  United  States  of  America 


TO  MY  MOTHER  AND  FATHER 
WHO  UNDERSTOOD  THE  PLAY  INTERESTS 
OF  THEIR  CHILDREN  AND  WHO  HAVE 
ALWAYS  BEEN  MY  BEST 


FRIENDS  AND  TEACHERS 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


/ 

https://archive.org/details/juniormethodinchOOpowe 


CHAPTER 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


Editor’s  Introduction .  n 

Preface .  13 

I.  The  Junior’s  World .  15 


The  Junior's  Home.  Variety  of  home  life — Influence 
of  the  home  on  behavior — Attitude  of  the  home  to¬ 
ward  the  church  school. 

The  Junior's  School.  Manifold  influences  of  the 
schoolroom — The  ideals  of  the  schoolroom — The 
internationalism  of  the  schoolroom — The  over¬ 
crowded  schedule — The  world  of  books. 

The  Junior's  Community.  The  world  of  play — Play 
in  the  city — Play  in  the  country — Leisure  time — 

The  moving  picture — The  church’s  task — The 
world  of  public  events — The  world  of  people. 

The  Junior's  Church. 

II.  The  Junior  Child .  31 

Personality  is  an  indivisible  whole — The  teacher’s 
responsibility  for  the  set  of  personality — Individual 
differences  among  children. 

Impulsive  Tendencies  of  the  Junior  Child.  Exuberant 
energy — The  gregarious  impulse. 

Spontaneous  Interests  of  the  Junior  Child.  Interest 
in  real  life — Interest  in  variety  of  experience — 
Interest  in  reading — Interest  in  heroic  characters — 
Dramatic  interest — Play  interest. 

Other  Characteristics  of  the  Junior  Child.  Mental 
alertness  —  Self-assertiveness  —  Response  to 
authority — Secretiveness  about  thought-life — Desire 
for  the  truth. 

Importance  of  the  Junior  Age.  The  importance  of 
habit-formation — The  instinctive  response  to  re¬ 
ligion. 

III.  Finding  Standards  in  the  Junior’s  Experience.  . .  44 

The  Aims  of  Religious  Education  for  Juniors.  The 
threefold  aim  of  religious  education — Fruitful  knowl¬ 
edge — Right  jgjtitudes — Skillful  living — Making  at¬ 
titudes  and  conduct  habitual. 

The  Junior's  Capacity  for  Religious  Life.  His  capacity 
for  religious  action — His  capacity  for  organized  re¬ 
ligious  thought — His  capacity  for  religious  feeling. 

■  The  Adaptation  of  Method  to  the  Religious  Education 
‘  of  the  Junior.  Individual  differences  among  children. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

IV.  The  Curriculum  for  the  Junior  Child .  59 


The  Threefold  Curriculum  of  Religious  Education. 

!  The  curriculum  of  activity — The  curriculum  of 
worship — The  curriculum  of  information. 

The  Curriculum  of  Information  for  Juniors.  Present 
experiences  of  nine  to  eleven-year-old  children — 
Biblical  material.  Extra- biblical  material. 

Stress  and  Neglect  in  Using  the  Curriculum.  In  teach¬ 
ing  the  life  of  Jesus — In  teaching  miracle  stories — 

In  teaching  the  Old  Testament — In  the  use  of  his¬ 
torical  material. 

V.  Available  Materials  and  How  to  Enrich  Them  . .  78 

Existing  Curricula  for  Juniors.  International  Les¬ 
son  Series — Scribners’  Completely  Graded  Series — 
Chicago  Constructive  Series — Beacon  Course — 
Christian  Nurture  Series — The  Abingdon  Religious 
Education  Texts — Other  Courses. 

Enriching  the  Present  Curriculum.  Use  correspond¬ 
ing  materials  in  other  series — Omit  lessons  containing 
unfruitful  material — Enrich  the  teacher’s  back¬ 
ground. 

VI.  The  Art  of  Teaching  Juniors .  93 

The  Trained  Teacher. 

Preparation  for  the  Lesson.  The  teacher’s  prepara¬ 
tion — Preparation  by  the  pupil. 

Securing  Participation  by  the  Group.  Through  finding 
the  point  of  contact — Through  interest — Through 
variety — Through  activity. 

Making  the  Lesson  Vivid  and  Vital. 

Testing  Results  of  Teaching.  Attention — Stimulated 
thinking — Participation  in  class  work — Results  in 
daily  living. 

VII.  Types  of  Teaching . . .  106 

Types  of  Lessons.  The  informational  lesson — The 
developmental  lesson — The  application  lesson — The 
drill  lesson — The  appreciation  lesson — The  review 
lesson — The  assignment  lesson. 

Teaching  Methods.  The  question-and-answer  method 
— The  discussion  method — The  topical  method — 

The  lecture  method — The  memory  method — The 
manual  method — The  observation  method — The 
story  method — The  dramatic  method — The  project 
method. 

VIII.  The  Classroom  Period . _ .  121 

Physical  Conditions  in  the  Classroom.  Importance 
of  physical  conditions — Right  classroom  conditions 
for  Juniors. 


6 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

Supervising  the  Junior's  Study.  Reasons  for  super¬ 
vising  study  of  Juniors — How  to  supervise  the  study 
of  Juniors. 

Socializing  the  Classroom  Period.  Free  discussion — 
Group  preparation  and  recitation — Social  emphasis 
upon  teachings — The  emphasis  upon  social  motives 
— Class  enterprises — Pupil  organization — An  informal 
classroom  program. 

Planning  the  Classroom  Period.  The  teacher’s  plan — 
Order  of  the  classroom  procedure. 

IX.  The  Use  of  the  Story  in  the  Junior  Department.  138 

The  Power  and  Purpose  of  the  Story.  The  story 
makes  truth  attractive — The  story  makes  a  lasting 
impression — The  story  stimulates  ideals — The  story 
influences  conduct. 

Story  Interests  of  Juniors.  Hero  interests — Adventure 
interests  — -  Achievement  interests  —  Historical  in¬ 
terests. 

Types  of  Stories  for  Juniors.  Bible  stories — Ethical 
stories — Missionary  stories — Appreciation  stories — 
Entertainment  stories. 

When  and  Where  to  Use  Stories.  The  story  in  the 
service  of  worship — The  story  in  the  lesson  period — 

The  story  in  the  missionary  program — The  story  in 
the  week-day  meeting — The  story  for  special 
occasions. 

Sources  of  Story  Material  for  Juniors. 

X.  Telling  Stories  to  Juniors .  157 

The  Art  of  Story-Telling.  How  to  know  a  good  story 
— How  to  tell  a  good  story. 

Outlining  the  Story.  A  good  beginning — A  simple, 
direct  plot — A  strong  climax — A  convincing  end. 
Preparing  the  Story  for  Telling.  Seeing  the  story — 
Feeling  the  story — Adapting  the  story — Practicing 
the  story — Living  the  story. 

Telling  the  Story.  The  attitude  of  the  story-teller — 
Make  actions  predominant — Use  direct  discourse — 

Use  concrete  terms — Employ  variety — Avoid  moral¬ 
izing — Be  full  of  the  meaning  of  the  story. 

XI.  Educating  Juniors  Through  Worship .  170 

f  What  is  Worship?  Worship  includes  emotion, 
thought  and  action — Worship  is  dominantly  emo¬ 
tional. 

What  is  Worship  For ?  To  make  real  the  sense  of 
companionship  with  God — To  convince  one  of  the 
worth  and  the  ultimate  victory  of  ideals — To  give 
dynamic  to  desirable  attitudes — To  afford  training  in 
worship.  How  Juniors  Worship.  Juniors  may  be 

7 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

unconventional — Juniors  like  variety — Juniors  need 
concreteness  and  directness — Juniors  need  prepa¬ 
ration  for  worship. 

XII.  The  Elements  of  a  Service  of  Worship .  181 

Materials  of  Worship.  Types  of  worship  material — 
Correlating  worship  with  instruction  and  expression. 

A  Central  Theme. 

The  Story  or  Talk.  Types  of  stories  suitable  for 
worship— Relative  value  of  the  story  and  the  talk — 
Dramatizing  the  story  for  worship. 

Music.  Types  of  hymns  suitable  for  Juniors — Need 
of  best  leadership  of  Junior  music — Learning  new 
hymns. 

Prayer.  The  Junior’s  attitude  toward  prayer — How 
Juniors  like  to  pray — Public  praying  by  Juniors — 
Teaching  Juniors  to  pray. 

Responsive  Service. 

The  Offertory. 

XIII.  Planning  the  Worship  Program .  201 

Planning  the  Conditions  of  Worship.  The  atmosphere 
necessary  for  worship — Effective  leadership — Par¬ 
ticipation  by  the  entire  group. 

The  Place  of  Worship  in  the  Church  School  Session. 

Types  of  Junior  Services  of  Worship. 

XIV.  Education  Through  Activity .  219 

Activity  and  the  Learning  Process. 

Types  of  Activity.  Activity  as  mere  outlet  for  energy 
— Activity  planned  by  adults — Activity  initiated 
by  the  child. 

The  Project  Method  in  Religious  Education.  Defining 
a  project — Some  values  of  the  project  method — Ex¬ 
amples  of  Junior  projects. 

Testing  the  Activity  of  the  Junior  Department.  Is  it 
purposeful? — Is  it  worth  while? — Is  it  self-directed? 

— Is  it  yielding  Christian  results? 

XV.  Education  Through  Manual  Work .  232 

Reasons  for  Manual  Work.  To  afford  an  outlet  for 
physical  energy — To  maintain  interest — To  insure 
study  of  the  lesson — To  fix  ideas — To  provide  life 
situations — To  unify  the  various  aspects  of  develop¬ 
ment. 

Types  of  Manual  Work.  Imitative  handwork — 
Handwork  as  review — Interpretative  handwork — 
Handwork  for  special  uses — Creative  handwork — 
cooperative  handwork. 

Motives  for  Manual  Work.  The  competitive 

8 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

motive — The  satisfaction  derived  from  skill — The 
creative  motive — The  service  motive. 

The  Place  of  Manual  Work  in  the  Department  Pro¬ 
gram. 

XVI.  Education  Through  Dramatization .  245 

Dramatization  a  Method  of  Learning  Religion.  Dram¬ 
atization  provides  fruitful  knowledge — Dramatiza¬ 
tion  develops  right  attitudes — Dramatization  in¬ 
creases  ability  in  Christian  living. 

Methods  of  Procedure  in  Dramatization.  Playing  the 
story — Learning  to  dramatize  a  story — Writing  the 
dramatization. 

Selecting  Dramatic  Material. 

Requirements  for  the  Leader.  Some  knowledge  of 
dramatic  effect — Ability  to  present  the  story  vividly 
— Ability  to  help  children  express  their  feelings — 
Willingness  to  help  children  to  be  original — Patience 
and  time  required. 

XVII.  Training  in  Service .  259 

The  Purpose  of  Training  in  Service.  To  help  those  in 
need — To  develop  the  individual  Junior — To  social¬ 
ize  the  Junior  Group. 

Making  the  Service  Program  of  Educational  Value. 

By  grading  it — By  making  it  worth  while — By 
allowing  for  pupil  initiative — By  right  combination 
of  difficulty  and  ease  of  accomplishment — By  ade¬ 
quate  preparation  for  service — By  directing  it  to¬ 
ward  representative  needs — By  preventing  false 
motives — By  carrying  the  activities  through  to  com¬ 
pletion. 

A  Suggested  Program  of  Service  for  the  Junior  Depart¬ 
ment. 

XVIII.  The  Junior  Department  at  Work .  279 

The  Purpose  of  Organization.  To  develop  responsi¬ 
bility — To  develop  leadership — To  create  effective 
conditions  for  work. 

Pupil  Orgayiization.  Junior  self-government — Junior 
Elections — Tasks  for  the  Junior  Council. 

Adult  Organization.  Officers — Duties  of  officers — 
Teachers’  meetings  and  training  classes. 

Records  of  Department  Work.  The  purpose  of  records 
— Useful  types  of  record  keeping — Making  use  of 
records. 

Equipment  for  a  Working  Junior  Room.  Arrange¬ 
ment — Room  decorations — F  umiture — Classroom 
necessities — Pictures — Library. 

9 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

XIX.  The  Junior  and  the  Church .  295 


Developing  the  Junior's  Loyalty  to  the  Church. 
Through  one  united  program  for  Juniors — Through 
pleasant  associations  with  the  church — Through 
sharing  in  the  financial  support  of  the  church — 
Through  an  intelligent  understanding  of  the 
church’s  history  and  task — Through  sharing  in  the 
work  of  the  church. 

The  Junior  Church.  Meaning  of  the  term — Advan¬ 
tages  of  a  Junior-church  program — Difficulties  to  be 
avoided — Suggestions  for  a  Junior-church  program. 

The  Junior  as  a  Church  Member.  The  time  for 
church  membership — Preparation  for  membership — 

The  responsibilities  of  a  Junior  church  member. 

XX.  The  Junior  Teacher .  307 

Qualifications  of  the  Junior  Teacher.  Willingness  and 
ability  to  acquire  skill  in  teaching — Adaptability — 

The  ability  to  play — Sense  of  humor — The  open 
mind — Honesty  in  words,  life,  and  purpose — Variety 
of  interests — Deep  Christian  experience. 

The  Teacher  and  the  Child.  Studying  the  individual 
child — The  teacher,  the  child’s  friend — Praying  for 
the  child. 

The  Teacher  and  the  Home.  Visiting  in  the  child’s 
home — Working  with  the  parents. 

The  Source  of  Power. 

Index . 318 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Education  Through  Activity . Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

Studying  With  the  Stereoscope .  102 

The  Story  in  the  Service  of  Worship .  150 

The  Prayer  in  the  Service  of  Worship . . .  174 

“Holy,  Holy,  Holy” .  188 

Our  American  Neighbors .  228 

David  and  Saul . ) .  246 

Dramatizing  “The  Baby  Moses”) 


10 


EDITOR’S  INTRODUCTION 


There  are  three  distinguishing  features  of  this 
volume.  In  the  first  place  the  author,  after  having 
done  a  substantial  amount  of  graduate  work  in 
religious  education,  spent  several  years  as  director 
of  religious  education  and  superintendent  of  the 
Junior  Department  in  the  First  Congregational 
Church,  Oak  Park,  Illinois.  Under  her  leadership 
this  department  became  widely  known  for  the 
originality  and  effectiveness  of  its  program.  Mrs. 
Powell  knows  Junior  boys  and  girls.  Through  years 
of  intimate  contacts  with  them  she  has  achieved 
an  unusual  understanding  of  and  sympathetic  in¬ 
sight  into  their  needs,  limitations,  and  capacities. 

Scarcely  less  intimate  and  intelligent  is  the  au¬ 
thor’s  insight  into  the  needs  of  those  who  are  respon¬ 
sible  for  the  work  in  the  Junior  Department  of  the 
church  school.  As  a  teacher  of  Junior  methods 
in  institutes  and  summer  schools,  Mrs.  Powell  has 
a  nation-wide  acquaintance.  Hundreds  of  class¬ 
room  discussions  and  private  conferences  are 
reflected  in  the  selection  and  organization  of  the 
material  which  she  has  included  in  this  text. 

The  clearness  and  depth  of  convictions  which 
have  come  as  the  result  of  careful  training,  wide 
observation,  and  practical  experience  are  reflected 
on  every  page.  The  author  has  a  distinct  point  of 
view  concerning  the  objectives  to  be  achieved  and 
the  methods  and  materials  to  be  used.  This  book 
is  not  a  rehash  of  materials  that  have  appeared  in 

ii 


EDITOR’S  INTRODUCTION 


other  places.  It  is,  rather,  a  vigorous  and  intensely 
practical  statement  of  principles  and  methods  which 
give  clear  evidence  of  originality.  Mrs.  Powell 
writes  with  the  authority  of  one  who  herself  has 
done  the  work  with  brilliant  success. 

Teachers  in  Junior  Departments  of  the  church 
school  will  find  in  this  book  an  unfailing  source  of 
information  and  helpful  suggestion. 

Norman  E.  Richardson. 


12 


PREFACE 


The  years  between  nine  and  twelve  are  significant 
years  in  the  development  of  the  individual.  They 
are  the  last  years  of  childhood  before  the  emergence 
of  the  new  life  forces  which  mark  the  transition 
to  adult  life. 

To  misconceptions,  bad  habits,  and  wrong  ideals 
formed  during  these  years  may  be  traced  many 
of  the  maladjustments  in  adolescent  life.  Right 
ideas,  habits  of  conduct-control,  and  Christian 
ideals  acquired  now  will  act  as  a  steadying  power 
in  the  turbulent  years  just  ahead. 

These  are  the  years  when  the  mind  is  particularly 
receptive  and  the  emotions  are  easily  organized 
around  ethical  centers.  Because  of  these  facts 
habits  of  thinking,  speaking,  and  acting  may  be 
acquired  with  facility.  To  make  them  desirable 
habits  is  the  opportunity  of  the  parents  and  teachers 
of  Junior  children. 

In  the  light  of  this  opportunity  it  is  apparent 
that  the  educational  task  of  the  leader  of  Junior 
boys  and  girls  is  a  strategic  as  well  as  a  coveted  one. 

In  order  to  help  the  teachers  of  Juniors,  the 
writer  has  attempted  to  see  the  Junior  child  in  the 
whole  range  of  his  life  experience.  The  principles 
and  methods  suggested  are  those  which  will  best 
meet  the  total  needs  of  the  Junior  child’s  life.  The 
book  seeks  to  show  how  some  of  the  freer  educa¬ 
tional  methods  of  to-day  may  be  used  in  a  thor¬ 
oughly  practical  way  and  with  clearly  recognized 
results  in  the  church  school. 

It  is  the  earnest  hope  of  the  author  that  through 

13 


PREFACE 

these  pages  teachers  of  Juniors  may  be  helped  to 
discover,  not  devices  but  true  methods  of  education; 
that  they  may  find  ways  of  enrichng  their  teaching 
and,  through  that  enrichment,  of  developing  boys 
and  girls  who  shall  be  thoroughly  Christian  within 
the  religious  capacities  of  Juniors;  and,  above  all, 
the  author  desires,  for  herself  and  for  all  who  lead 
childhood  along  the  pathway  of  the  present  toward 
the  future,  an  open  mind  which  recognizes  no 
method  as  final  but  which  is  ever  seeking  for  clearer 
light  along  the  pathway. 

The  writer  is  deeply  grateful  to  the  many  friends 
who  have,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  helped  in 
the  making  of  this  book.  This  includes  the  friends 
who  have  courteously  loaned  pictures  of  Junior 
groups,  those  who  have  contributed  experiments  in 
Junior  teaching,  and  the  publishers  who  have  ex¬ 
tended  permission  to  quote  from  their  publications. 

Especially  is  she  grateful  to  Dr.  George  H.  Betts 
and  the  members  of  his  seminar  who  gave  stimu¬ 
lating  criticism  when  this  volume  was  in  its  begin¬ 
ning;  to  Mr.  W.  J.  Hamilton,  Mr.  Warren  T.  Powell, 
and  to  the  editor,  Dr.  Norman  E.  Richardson, 
who  made  valuable  suggestions  as  to  the  organiza¬ 
tion  of  material;  to  the  many  students  in  her  classes 
on  Junior  methods  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
whose  interest  in  the  teaching  task  has  been  an 
inspiration.  Above  all,  she  acknowledges  her  appre¬ 
ciation  of  the  help  received  from  the  teachers  and 
Juniors  of  the  Church  School  of  the  First  Con¬ 
gregational  Church,  Oak  Park,  Illinois,  whose 
Junior  Department  was  the  final  laboratory  which 
made  possible  this  volume. 

The  Author. 

14 


CHAPTER  I 


THE  JUNIOR’S  WORLD 

The  Junior’s  world  is  twofold;  first,  the  world  of 
facts,  and,  second,  these  facts  as  he  sees  them. 
In  one  sense  his  environment  is  made  up  of  certain 
fact-situations;  in  another  sense  his  environment 
consists  of  that  part  of  his  surroundings  of  which 
he  is  conscious.  It  is  quite  possible  for  a  person 
to  have  around  him  many  things  not  really  in  his 
world;  the  Junior’s  real  world  is  that  of  his  con¬ 
scious  environment.  The  task  of  the  Junior  teacher 
is  to  help  the  Junior  to  become  conscious  of  the  best 
in  his  world — to  interpret  to  him  his  world  of  facts. 

It  is  also  true  that  there  is  an  unconscious,  as 
well  as  a  conscious  environment,  shaping  the  Junior’s 
ideals  of  life.  Sometimes  we  fail  to  recognize  what 
impressions  are  being  made,  subconsciously,  on  the 
child’s  mind,  by  certain  elements  in  his  environ¬ 
ment,  of  which  he  seldom  speaks.  One  can  never 
tell  at  what  moment  some  one  of  these  latent  interests 
may  spring  into  the  field  of  the  conscious  life  and 
demand  a  definite  recognition. 

So  the  teacher’s  task  is  as  twofold  as  the  Junior’s 
world.  While  one  half  of  his  task  is  to  help  the 
child  interpret  the  facts  of  his  universe,  the 
other  half  is  to  help  modify  and  recreate  that  uni¬ 
verse  itself,  not  resting  satisfied  until  the  child’s 
environment  is  the  best  that  it  can  be.  The  Junior 
teacher,  who  is  interested  in  the  Junior’s  world 

15 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


as  well  as  in  the  Junior  himself,  will  try  to  teach 
him  standards  of  recreation — to  raise  his  taste  for 
fine  things.  At  the  same  time  the  teacher  will  be 
active  in  many  efforts  to  better  the  community 
situation,  such  as  suppressing  improper  movies,  or 
supplying  types  of  entertainment  suitable  for 
children.  The  teacher  will  not  be  content  to  teach 
Tony  that  cleanliness  is  next  to  godliness,  nor  urge 
the  washing  of  face  and  hands  as  a  Christian  duty, 
without  visiting  Tony’s  home  to  see  what  can  be 
done  to  make  it  a  place  where  hands  will  not  get 
soiled  so  easily  or  remain  unwashed. 

This  recognition  of  the  child’s  conscious  and 
unconscious  environment  should  be  carried  into 
the  consideration  of  every  part  of  the  Junior’s 
world.  His  world  we  may  subdivide  into  the  fol¬ 
lowing:  the  Junior’s  home,  the  Junior’s  school, 
the  Junior’s  community,  and  the  Junior’s  church. 

THE  JUNIOR’S  HOME 

The  world  of  any  human  being  begins  at  the 
center  and  works  outward.  The  home,  that  oldest 
of  human  institutions,  remains  for  the  Junior  child, 
even  with  all  his  growing  outside  interests,  the 
center  of  his  world.  It  is  there  that  heredity  and 
environment  combine  their  educative  forces  to 
write  indelible  impressions  upon  his  consciousness, 
and  it  is  just  those  indelible  impressions  with 
which  teachers  in  the  church  school  must  reckon. 

Variety  of  home  life. — In  all  our  work  with 
childhood  and  youth  there  is  a  tendency  to  gen¬ 
eralize.  We  classify  their  probable  reactions,  we 
assume  that  all  children  of  a  certain  period  of 
development  will  act  in  the  same  way  in  similar 

16 


THE  JUNIOR’S  WORLD 


circumstances,  quite  forgetting  that  “over  and  above 
all  the  mechanism  of  education  stands  the  prin¬ 
ciple  of  personality.”1 

So  too  we  are  very  apt  to  discount  or  overlook 
the  wide  dissimilarity  of  environment  that  influences 
children  growing  up  in  the  same  community.  What 
a  variety  of  homes  open  their  doors  each  morning 
to  send  their  children  to  the  public-school  room! 
From  what  an  assortment  of  home  atmospheres  the 
youth  of  a  community  come  flocking  to  the  church 
school  upon  a  Sunday  morning!  The  teacher  of 
Juniors  may  well  pause  to  ask  herself  the  following 
questions  before  she  starts  her  task  of  teaching: 
Is  father  his  chum?  Does  mother  play  with  the 
children?  Has  she  time,  after  the  demands  of 
home,  club,  or  committee,  to  read  with  them,  to 
play  with  them — to  pray  with  them?  Does  the 
whole  family  ever  take  its  recreation  together? 

Influence  of  the  home  on  behavior. — When  our 
Junior  fails  to  perform  the  assigned  task,  may  it 
not  be  due  to  the  fact  that  he  has  never  had  any 
definite  home  tasks  to  perform?  If  he  does  not 
cooperate  quickly  and  work  easily  with  a  group, 
we  may  discover  that  the  home  from  which  he 
comes  is  not  run  on  the  cooperative  plan.  In  how 
many  families  are  there  family  councils  about 
matters  which  affect  the  entire  home  group,  where 
father  and  mother  take  the  children  into  their 
confidence,  and  really  deliberate  with  them?  The 
fact  that  a  Junior  does  or  does  not  have  brothers 
and  sisters,  older  or  younger,  will  mean  something 
with  regard  to  his  attitudes  in  the  church  school. 

Reprinted  by  permission  of  The  Macmillan  Company,  from  Peabody:  The 
Religious  Education  of  an  American  Citizen,  p.  13. 

17 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Homes  vary  too  in  their  types  of  atmosphere. 
Possibly  many  a  question  of  discipline  in  the  Sunday- 
school  class  could  be  traced  directly  to  the  fact 
that  the  offending  child  comes  on  a  Sunday  morning 
from  a  jangling,  nervous,  soul-destroying  home. 
And  who  can  estimate  the  uplift  of  spirit  with 
which  a  child  may  go  out  from  a  home  where  quiet, 
happiness,  and  mutual  understanding  are  spirit¬ 
building  forces? 

Attitude  of  the  home  toward  the  church  school. 

— Are  the  Junior’s  parents  churchgoing  people,  or 
is  this  little  child  merely  drawn  to  church  by 
schoolmates?  Is  he  sent  merely  to  satisfy  the  con¬ 
sciences  of  adults  who  themselves  prefer  to  remain 
at  home?  What  is  the  attitude  of  father  and 
mother  with  regard  to  the  work  of  the  church 
school?  Is  it  looked  upon  as  a  vital  part  of  their 
children’s  education,  a  task  to  be  taken  as  seriously 
as  their  public-school  work,  or  do  they  fail  to  think 
of  it  as  having  any  real  educative  value? 

These  are  not  facetious  questions.  They  point 
to  factors  that  have  the  highest  educational  mean¬ 
ing.  In  rowing  a  boat  it  makes  a  great  deal  of 
difference  whether  one  is  going  with  or  against 
the  current. 

THE  JUNIOR’S  SCHOOL 

But  the  Junior’s  world  is  far  more  inclusive 
than  the  four  walls  of  home.  He  has  had  three 
years  of  school,  years  productive  of  wide  expe¬ 
rience  (in  his  own  estimation).  He  has  begun  to 
feel  the  compulsion  of  an  authority  if  not  more 
binding  than  that  of  family,  at  least  equally  influ¬ 
ential.  If  the  public-school  nurse  urges  him  to 

18 


THE  JUNIOR’S  WORLD 


wash  his  teeth  every  day,  he  grasps  at  this  sug¬ 
gestion  as  at  a  brand-new  idea,  never  heard  before 
from  mother’s  reminding  lips.  He  takes  off  his 
hat  to  his  teacher  (if  she  is  pretty  or  understands 
boys)  although  parental  authority  has  hitherto 
compelled  only  a  grudging  and  very  hasty  snatch 
at  it.  Yes,  the  outside  world  is  claiming  him  as  a 
citizen  of  wider  experience,  and  “public  opinion” 
is  now  a  factor  to  be  reckoned  with. 

Manifold  influences  of  the  schoolroom. — Perhaps 
the  most  potent  factor  in  this  larger  world  is  the 
public-school  room.  This  institution  is  made  up 
of  something  more  than  just  the  world  of  books 
and  study  periods  and  accumulation  of  information. 
It  includes  that  glorious  company  of  friends  and 
co-conspirators,  all  eager  to  taste  of  life  and  adven¬ 
ture,  to  try  out  the  Real — that  compound  of  gym¬ 
nasium  and  swimming  tank,  of  athletic  field  and 
playground,  that  world  where  the  gang  is  gradually 
being  shaped  into  a  mysterious  power  whose  secrets 
only  the  initiated  may  know. 

The  ideals  of  the  schoolroom. — This  school  world 
holds  many  pitfalls  as  well  as  many  opportunities. 
There  is  the  chance  for  imitation  of  bad  manners 
or  the  absorption  of  ideals  of  courtesy;  there  is 
the  opportunity  slavishly  to  follow  the  worst  or 
to  hold  up  the  ideals  of  the  finest;  there  is  the  con¬ 
tinual  choice  between  companions  who  help  or 
those  who  harm. 

The  internationalism  of  the  schoolroom. — There 
is  in  almost  every  schoolroom  in  America  to-day  a 
miniature  world  of  nationalities  where  the  Junior 
citizen  may  succumb  to  the  temptation  to  shout 
“Dago”  or  “Sheeny”  or  “Chink,”  or  where  he  may 

19 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


learn  his  first  lessons  in  an  altruistic  patriotism  and 
real  internationalism.  The  basis  of  world-friendli¬ 
ness  can  be  laid  securely  in  the  experiences  of  these 
years. 

The  overcrowded  schedule. — There  is  one  factor 
in  the  Junior’s  world  which  may  sound  like  a  tran¬ 
script  from  adult  life,  but  which,  sad  to  relate,  is 
just  as  pertinent  to  the  youth  of  to-day,  and  that 
is  the  overcrowded  schedule  of  the  average  American 
child.  Life  is  full  to  the  brim  of  activities,  most 
of  them  valuable,  many  of  them  no  doubt  helpful, 
but  which  taken  all  together  may,  in  the  long  run, 
undermine  the  physical  and  spiritual  vitality  of 
the  next  generation.  Any  church-school  teacher 
who  has  attempted  to  gather  her  group  together 
on  a  week-day  afternoon  is  familiar  with  the  diffi¬ 
culties  placed  in  the  way  by  music  lessons, 
dancing  lessons,  French  lessons,  younger  boy  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  programs,  and  other  activities. 

This  fact  of  the  heavy  schedule  can  scarcely  be  given 
enough  emphasis  in  our  thoughts.  Can  we  ever  get 
sanity,  poise,  freedom  from  worry  and  nerve  strain, 
if  we  never  have  a  “mind  at  leisure  from  itself”? 

The  world  of  books. — At  the  beginning  of  the 
Junior  age  the  doors  of  the  world  of  books  swing 
open  and  the  Junior  rides  and  fights  with  King 
Arthur,  he  hides  in  leafy  ambuscade  with  Robin 
Hood,  he  swings  over  the  ice  with  Hans  Brinker 
of  the  Silver  Skates,  or  climbs  the  mountain  heights 
with  Heidi.  Now,  Alice  leads  him  through  Wonder¬ 
land,  Robinson  Crusoe  beckons  from  his  island, 
Odysseus  carries  him  across  the  seas  of  adventure, 
or  Jason  involves  him  in  the  search  for  the  Golden 
Fleece. 


20 


THE  JUNIOR’S  WORLD 

The  fine  art  of  discrimination  is  as  yet  denied 
the  Junior.  Is  it,  therefore,  to  be  wondered  at  that 
Andy  and  Min  Gump  should  help  set  his  standards 
of  home  life  or  teach  him  to  laugh  at  “love’s  minor 
frictions,”  or  that  the  newspapers,  from  which  it  is 
so  difficult  to  get  unprejudiced  judgments,  should 
startle  him  with  their  lurid  headlines  or  introduce 
him  to  the  police  records?  Into  this  world  of  books 
the  wise  teacher  will  go  hand  in  hand  with  her 
Junior  pupils,  reading  those  books  which  appeal  to 
them,  and  introducing  them  to  others  which  they 
may  have  overlooked,  books  with  the  power  to  set 
forth  the  highest  and  best  ideals  of  life. 

THE  JUNIOR’S  COMMUNITY 

But  the  school,  absorbing  as  are  its  interests,  is 
not  the  only  factor  in  the  Junior’s  surroundings  with 
which  to  reckon.  A  community  survey  to  deter¬ 
mine  our  Junior’s  inherited  environment  might  read 
somewhat  as  follows: 

1.  Does  he  live  in  an  apartment  house  or  in  a 
real  house  with  a  yard  around  it? 

2.  How  often  does  his  world  change  due  to  fre¬ 
quent  moving  from  one  community  to  another? 

3.  Does  he  play  at  home,  on  the  street,  or  in  the 
public  playground? 

4.  To  what  kind  of  moving  pictures  does  he  go? 

5.  Who  is  his  favorite  moving-picture  star? 

6.  Is  he  ever  taken  to  see  great  masterpieces  of 
art  or  to  hear  great  music? 

7.  Does  he  go  on  educational  trips  to  see  at 
first  hand  important  industrial  plants  or  com¬ 
mercial  projects? 

The  world  of  play. — The  “world  of  play”  varies 

21 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


greatly  among  Juniors  in  different  parts  of  our 
country.  To  some  it  is  a  great  free  unlimited 
opportunity  for  enjoyment.  Others  are  denied  the 
privileges  of  play.  Undoubtedly,  play  is  a  neces¬ 
sary  part  of  every  child’s  preparation  for  life  and 
its  privileges  should  be  extended  to  all. 

Play  in  the  city. — In  spite  of  the  fact  that  play 
is  more  and  more  recognized  as  an  essential  of 
child  life,  there  still  remain  places  where  the  child, 
to  play,  must  be  a  criminal.  The  cry,  “The  cop 
is  coming!”  sounds  the  alarm  in  many  a  small 
play-world.  This  need  is  being  met  in  part  by  the 
public  playgrounds  and  the  interest  which  the  public 
school  is  taking  in  supervising  the  play  of  children. 
There  are  opportunities,  however,  for  children  with 
unlimited  chances  for  play  to  share  these  chances 
with  the  city-cramped  boys  and  girls,  who  welcome 
an  invitation  to  the  country  now  and  then. 

Play  in  the  country. — It  would  seem  that  the 
country  child  would  naturally  have  more  space  and 
more  time  for  the  right  kind  of  play,  but  those  who 
have  been  brought  up  in  the  country  say  that  this 
is  not  always  the  case.  In  speaking  of  the  barren¬ 
ness  of  some  country  schoolhouses  and  their  lack  of 
attractiveness,  one  man  declared  that  many  country 
children  do  not  really  play.  The  dull  routine  and 
long  hours  of  farm  work  leave  young  people  with 
unimaginative  minds,  awkwardness  in  making  social 
contacts,  and  a  lack  of  suppleness,  grace,  and  skill 
in  the  use  of  muscles. 

Those  who  teach  Junior  children  in  the  country 
districts  may  reveal  to  them  the  possibilities  of 
certain  types  of  play,  out  in  the  open,  and  help 
them  to  feel  a  real  gratitude  for  the  experimental 

22 


THE  JUNIOR’S  WORLD 


ground,  for  nature  study,  and  other  opportunities 
for  play  which  the  country  provides.  The  church 
school  in  the  rural  district  may  plan  for  group  play 
and  for  entertainment  with  which  the  city  child 
is  surfeited,  but  of  which  the  country  child  is  so 
often  deprived. 

Leisure  time. — The  play  interest  opens  up  the 
whole  question  of  how  the  child  spends  his  leisure 
time.  A  public-school  principal  once  asked  a  group 
of  children  to  answer  in  writing  three  questions: 

What  is  leisure  time? 

Who  is  entitled  to  leisure? 

How  would  you  spend  an  hour  of  leisure  time  in 
the  morning?  the  afternoon?  the  evening?  on  Sunday? 
The  following  are  some  of  the  replies,  and  they 
show  that  the  average  child  (for  these  were  average 
children  from  average  homes)  likes  the  wholesome 
things  in  his  environment. 

In  answer  to  the  first  question  they  wrote  as 
follows:  (a)  Leisure  time  is  time  in  which  one  may 
do  as  he  pleases.  ( b )  Leisure  time  is  time  in  which 
one  does  not  have  to  work. 

The  replies  to  the  second  question  indicated  that 
leisure  is  a  reward  for  labor  or  for  service  rendered. 
Here  are  some  of  them:  (a)  An  industrious  person 
is  entitled  to  leisure.  ( b )  A  person  who  works  hard 
and  does  not  waste  time  is  entitled  to  leisure.  ( c ) 
Everyone  is  entitled  to  leisure  time  when  his  work 
is  finished. 

The  replies  to  the  third  question,  as  to  how  leisure 
time  might  be  spent,  were  most  interesting:  (a)  In 
the  morning  I  would  take  a  hike  or  a  bicycle  ride 
into  the  country.  While  there  I  would  look  for 
plant  and  animal  life.  I  would  ask  mother  to  pyt 

23 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


up  a  good  lunch  and  I  would  build  a  fire  in  the 
woods  and  eat  my  lunch  there.  In  the  afternoon 
I  would  play  ball  and  read,  or  perhaps  work  in  my 
garden  and  then  take  a  nap.  In  the  evening  I 
would  read,  go  to  bed  early,  or  see  a  good  show. 
( b )  On  Sunday  I  would  call  for  my  best  boy  friend 
and  go  to  the  woods.  We  would  like  to  take  a  lunch 
and  a  dog  with  us.  (c)  On  Sunday  afternoon  several 
of  the  girls  “dressed  up,”  took  a  book  or  some 
music,  called  for  some  other  girls,  and  went  to 
another  girl’s  house.  Later  in  the  afternoon  they 
would  all  take  a  walk. 

The  teacher  who  secured  these  replies  from  her 
pupils  lists  the  activities  as  out  of  doors,  food, 
play,  reading,  a  good  show,  a  change  of  scenery, 
comradeship,  devotion,  society,  admiration — “all 
wholesome,  honest,  normal,  legitimate  ways  to 
spend  time.”  Those  who  spend  time  at  the  movies 
specified  the  kind — an  educational  film,  Western 
life,  a  comedy,  but  not  “silly  love  stories.”  One 
boy  said,  “Silly  love  stories  make  me  sick.” 

The  moving  picture. — In  spite  of  the  encouraging 
nature  of  these  replies,  they  undoubtedly  do  not 
indicate  with  any  degree  of  accuracy  the  real  num¬ 
ber  of  hours  spent  in  the  moving  picture  houses 
by  a  large  majority  of  the  American  children  to-day. 

Six  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four  the  Junior 
spends  in  the  schoolroom;  during  the  remaining 
hours  the  processes  of  unconscious  and  environ¬ 
mental  education  are  working  slowly  and  surely 
toward  the  making  of  a  man  or  a  woman.  Of  all 
these  forces  none  is  more  pervasive,  more  universal, 
more  potent  to-day  than  the  cinematograph.  With 
its  appeal  to  the  eye-gate,  that  surest  of  all  avenues 

24 


THE  JUNIOR’S  WORLD 


to  indelibility  of  impression,  its  suspended  excite¬ 
ment,  its  portrayal  of  adventure  and  activity,  its 
starring  of  heroes,  and  its  often  crude  and  unsubtle 
humor,  it  is  pushing  out  the  walls  of  the  child’s 
world  on  every  side.  It  can  carry  him  to  the  utter¬ 
most  parts  of  the  earth;  it  knows  no  boundaries  of 
time  or  space;  it  brings  the  far  near  at  hand,  and, 
together  with  much  that  is  good  and  constructive, 
it  opens  up  to  growing  minds  a  world  of  society 
and  adventure  which  are  at  the  most  unnatural 
and  unchildlike. 

It  is  said  that  the  moving  picture  house  pro¬ 
vides  a  place  where  mothers  who  want  to  “go  out” 
may  send  their  children,  night  after  night,  at  the 
close  of  school  and  can  feel  that  they  are  being 
entertained,  while  the  mothers  are  quite  oblivious 
to  the  bad  air,  the  glaring  lights,  the  nerve-strain, 
as  over  against  an  hour  or  two  of  invigorating  play 
in  the  open  air. 

Certain  it  is  that  the  entire  mental  content  of 
the  American  child’s  mind  is  vastly  different  from 
that  of  the  child  of  the  same  age  ten  years  ago. 
This  is,  of  course,  always  true,  as  times  change, 
but  it  is  particularly  true  now,  due  to  the  new 
world  of  ideas  introduced  by  the  moving  picture. 

This  cannot  be  said  to  be  any  more  true  of  one 
class  of  children  than  of  another.  The  price  of 
admission  seems  to  be  the  Open  Sesame;  the  number 
of  homes  which  attempt  intelligently  to  regulate 
the  attendance  of  their  children  seems  to  be  very 
limited. 

The  church’s  task. — Those  who  teach  the  Junior 
child  in  the  church  school  must,  first  of  all,  recog¬ 
nize  this  color  given  to  the  child  consciousness  by 

25 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


the  moving  picture.  Children  to-day  are  perfectly 
familiar  with  many  ideas,  many  phases  of  social 
life,  many  human  emotions,  of  which  the  child  of 
ten  years  ago  was  utterly  unconscious.  We  cannot 
assume  any  longer  in  our  teaching,  that  certain 
ideas  are  entirely  foreign  to  the  child’s  mental 
content.  They  may  be,  but  we  cannot  assume  that 
they  are.  This  may  mean  the  introduction  into  our 
teaching  of  instruction  about  certain  social  situa¬ 
tions  at  a  much  earlier  period  in  child  develop¬ 
ment  than  was  formerly  thought  proper. 

To  recognize  the  real  problems  with  which  Juniors 
are  familiar  is  one  of  the  first  essentials.  It  is  not 
only  what  the  child  learns  on  Sunday  but  also  what 
makes  up  his  life  during  the  week  days  that  deter¬ 
mines  his  character. 

The  church,  or  those  who  represent  it,  must 
educate  the  home  with  regard  to  the  moving- 
picture  question,  educate  the  children  to  an  appre¬ 
ciation  of  the  best,  and  educate  the  community  to 
provide  for  the  community’s  children  sufficient 
moving-picture  entertainment  of  the  highest  quality. 
If  necessary,  the  church  must  itself  operate  a 
moving-picture  machine  in  order  to  provide  good 
pictures.  Care  should  be  taken,  however,  that  it 
does  not  do  what  the  community  as  a  whole  might 
do  with  greater  success  * 

The  world  of  public  events. — But  the  Junior  is 

part  of  a  larger  world  than  any  we  have  yet 
mentioned.  He  receives  as  his  social  heritage  the 
accumulating  contributions  of  many  succeeding 
generations.  It  is  a  perplexed  and  perplexing  world, 
where  issues  are  confused,  tremendous  tasks  of 
reconstruction  uncompleted,  a  world  to  be  saved 

26 


THE  JUNIOR’S  WORLD 


only  by  the  stanchest,  most  daring  Christian 
leadership  in  high  places. 

It  may  be  that  only  vague  echoes  of  this  troubled 
world  filter  down  to  our  Junior  through  the  daily 
press,  the  printed  page,  or  the  conversation  of  adults. 
Or,  possibly  in  certain  strata  of  our  society,  this 
consciousness  may  be  more  real  through  actual 
contact  with  some  of  these  pressing  social  problems 
in  the  daily  life  of  the  child.  But,  however  con¬ 
scious  or  unconscious  he  may  be  of  this  seething 
world  beyond  his  immediate  horizon,  it  is  never¬ 
theless  his  world.  He  must  accept  it,  become  part 
of  it,  be  made  by  it,  or  rise  triumphantly  superior 
to  it,  shaping  and  reshaping  it  to  godlike  ends. 

Every  leader  of  Juniors,  as  he  looks  into  the  eager, 
vivid  faces  of  his  church-school  group,  may  remem¬ 
ber  with  a  thrill  of  spiritual  adventure  that  “one 
slight  wrist  may  lift  a  century  from  out  the  dust.”2 
We  shall  see  in  later  pages  how  the  church  may 
act  as  a  connecting  link  between  the  Junior  and 
this  larger  world.  Surely,  no  institution  which  aims 
to  supply  Christian  leadership  can  be  content  to 
let  even  its  youngest  members  formulate  their  ideas 
of  this  changing  world  on  the  basis  of  rumor  or 
through  desultory  avenues  of  information.  Instead, 
the  church  will  attempt  to  throw  the  white  light  of 
truth  on  perplexing  social  issues  and  lead  its  Junior 
members  into  an  intelligent  world-citizenship. 

The  world  of  people. — The  world  of  people  is 
a  world  that  cuts  across  the  Junior’s  other  “worlds” 
continuously  and  which  helps  to  make  them  power¬ 
ful  in  their  influence.  Home  is  not  the  house  in 
which  the  Junior  lives,  but  the  people  in  that  house. 

2  Wharton,  "A  Torch  Bearer,”  in  Artemis  to  Actaon. 

27 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


School  is  not  the  four  walls  of  the  schoolroom;  it 
is  the  teacher  and  companions  with  whom  one  spends 
the  hours.  The  community  itself  is  really  a  com¬ 
munity  of  people  whose  lives  are  brushing  up  against 
our  Junior’s  life  in  some  way  or  other. 

One  can  hardly  overestimate  the  influence  of 
adults  upon  boys  and  girls.  The  power  of  sug¬ 
gestion  in  forming  ideals  is  immeasurable.  The 
Junior  teacher  may  instruct,  may  lead  discussions, 
may  plan  class  activities,  may  seek  to  improve 
environment,  but,  over  and  above  all  these  teach¬ 
ing  elements,  it  is  his  own  personality  which  is  really 
the  teacher.  He  is  suggesting  ideals  by  all  his 
unconscious  acts;  he  may  consciously  use  the  power 
of  suggestion  in  the  impartation  of  attitudes.  His 
own  life  attitude  may  suggest  to  Junior  boys  and 
girls  that  of  the  most  vital  personality  the  world 
has  ever  known,  so  that  at  the  center  of  the  Junior’s 
world  may  be  enshrined  the  Christ. 

THE  JUNIOR’S  CHURCH 

Somewhere  in  the  world  in  which  the  Junior  lives 
there  stands  a  church,  either  of  Gothic  stone  with 
spire  pointing  heavenward  through  suburban  oaks, 
or  a  downtown  city  church,  by  the  side  of  the  road 
“where  the  crowds  of  men  pass  by,”  or  the  little 
white  church  at  the  country  crossroads.  Whether  it 
is  a  real  factor  in  the  Junior’s  world  depends  very 
largely  upon  the  church  itself,  or  its  representatives 
who  have  the  shaping  of  the  program  for  Junior 
boys  and  girls. 

“Years  ago  I  joined  the - Club,”  said  a 

father  recently,  mentioning  the  oldest  family  club 
in  a  growing  suburban  community.  “Then  there 

28 


THE  JUNIOR’S  WORLD 


came  a  time  when  I  thought  I  would  resign,  but  I 
thought  of  Mary,  my  daughter,  coming  along,  and 
thought  she  might  enjoy  it  some  day,  so  I  kept 
my  membership.  But,  do  you  know,  she  is  a  Junior 
in  high  school  now,  and  she  hasn’t  one  speck  of 
interest  in  any  of  the  social  doings  at  the  club, 
but  let  there  be  any  kind  of  a  doings  here  at  the 
church  house,  and  wild  horses  can’t  keep  her  away.” 

What  shall  we  do  as  a  church  with  the  world 
in  which  the  Junior  finds  himself?  We  have  a 
responsibility  for  his  community  environment.  If 
it  is  true  that  we  must  “put  into  the  environment 
what  we  want  in  the  child,”  the  church  must  play 
its  part  in  making  and  keeping  community  life 
clean,  morally  uplifting,  democratic.  If,  as  Pres¬ 
ident  King  says,  by  “staying  persistently  in  the 
presence  of  the  best”  the  soul  is  carried  on  its  up¬ 
ward  way,  then  the  church-school  environment 
should  be  made  so  attractive  that  the  love  for  God 
and  his  service  will  become  contagious  and  the 
habits  of  reverence  for  and  loyalty  to  the  church 
will  grow  quite  naturally  out  of  the  memory  and 
anticipation  of  happy  hours  spent  there  under  the 
creative  leadership  of  Christian  men  and  women 
who  know  and  love  the  heart  of  a  child. 

Against  this  background  of  the  American  child’s 
world  stands  the  child  himself.  Will  he  be  any 
easier  to  understand  than  the  world  of  which  he 
is  a  product?  Let  us  ask  ourselves,  with  all  rever¬ 
ence  and  a  deep  desire  to  know  the  truth,  “What 
manner  of  child  is  this?” 

For  Further  Reading : 

Horne — Idealism  in  Education ,  Chapter  XXXI. 

29 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Peabody — The  Religious  Education  of  an  Amer¬ 
ican  Citizen ,  Chapter  II. 

Richardson — The  Church  at  Play. 

Powell — Recreational  Leadership  for  Church  and 
Community. 

For  data  on  the  Junior’s  World,  see  the  following 
fiction: 

Kenneth  Graham — Dream  Days  and  The  Golden 
Age . 

Booth  Tarkington — Penrod. 

W.  D.  Howells — A  Boy’s  Town. 

Frances  Hodgson  Burnett — The  One  I  Knew  the 
Best  of  All. 

T.  B.  Aldrich — The  Story  of  a  Bad  Boy. 

William  Allen  White — Court  of  Boyville. 


CHAPTER  II 


THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 

There  are  perhaps  three  thoughts  that  will  help 
the  teacher  in  his  study  of  the  Junior  child,  whether 
this  study  be  through  the  medium  of  reading  about 
Juniors  or  by  personal  observation  of  them.  First, 
personality  is  an  indivisible  whole  and  must  be  so 
considered.  Second,  the  teacher  is  in  a  strategic 
position  with  reference  to  the  development  of  that 
personality.  Third,  there  are  marked  individual 
differences  among  children. 

Personality  is  an  indivisible  whole. — “We  cannot 
send  a  boy’s  mind  to  school,  his  body  to  the  gym¬ 
nasium  and  his  soul  to  church,”  Dr.  Soares  once 
remarked.  There  have  undoubtedly  been  moments 
in  the  experience  of  almost  every  church-school 
teacher  when  he  has  wished  that  he  might  have 
twelve  disembodied  little  spirits  before  him  on  a 
Sunday  morning  instead  of  twelve  very  wiggly, 
provocative  bodies,  challenging  the  utmost  of  one’s 
faith  to  believe  that  much  “soul”  hides  within. 
But  the  wise  teacher  will  hold  any  such  idea  only 
as  a  passing  thought,  for  he  will  rejoice  that  this 
small  person  is  a  “whole  person”  and  is  to  be  treated 
as  such.  He  will  also  welcome  the  opportunity 
to  help  the  Junior  to  achieve  self-control  with 
respect  to  both  body  and  intellect.  At  the  basis 
of  the  task  of  religious  education  lies  the  convic¬ 
tion  that  no  personality  is  complete  if  religious 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


development  is  defective.  Horace  Bushnell  re¬ 
minded  us  long  ago  that  “the  soul  of  education  is 
the  education  of  the  soul.” 

The  teacher’s  responsibility  for  the  set  of  per¬ 
sonality. — There  is  cause  for  hesitation  on  the  part 
of  the  conscientious  teacher  in  the  thought  that 
this  child’s  personality  lies  for  a  time  each  week  in 
his  keeping;  that  what  it  will  become  depends,  in 
part,  upon  the  influences  set  up  around  it  by  him; 
that  while  it  is  there  as  a  spiritual  reality,  it  is 
nevertheless  a  thing  yet  to  be.  “Every  child  is  a 
candidate  for  personality,”  says  Dr.  Coe.1  But 
the  conscientious  teacher  may  feel  not  only  trep¬ 
idation  but  uplift  in  the  thought  that  God  and  he 
together  are  at  work  on  the  creation  and  develop¬ 
ment  of  personality.  It  is  to  receive  its  permanent 
moral  set  at  his  hands. 

Individual  differences  among  children. — We  have 
noticed  the  wide  dissimilarity  of  environment  under 
which  different  children  in  even  the  same  commu¬ 
nity  develop.  So  too  we  must  continually  remind 
ourselves  that  although  certain  instinctive  traits  ap¬ 
pear  in  almost  every  child  at  about  the  same  age, 
nevertheless  instinctive  reactions  can  never  completely 
account  for  any  person.  We  are,  above  all  else,  indi¬ 
viduals,  and  each  personality  offers  a  new  problem. 

Says  Dr.  Peabody,  “To  discern  the  potential 
qualities  of  different  lives — that  is  the  infinitely 
varied  and  perplexing,  yet  fascinating  task,  which 
parents,  pastors,  and  teachers  have  to  meet.  To 
take  a  life  as  it  is  and  make  of  it  what  it  was  meant 
to  be,  to  take  a  person  and  make  of  him  a  person- 

*  1  Reprinted  by  permission  of  Charles  Scribner’s  Sons,  from  Coe,  Social  Theory 

of  Religious  Education. 


32 


THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 


ality — that  is  the  aim  of  religious  as  of  all  education. 
At  the  beginning  of  a  chapter  on  spontaneous 
reactions  of  childhood,  it  is  well  to  focus  our  thought 
on  this  wide  variation  in  personality.  It  is  all  too 
easy  for  the  student  of  child  psychology  to  group 
children  according  to  their  ages  and  to  fasten  upon 
each  age  a  list  of  characteristics  which  are  sup¬ 
posed  to  find  their  most  pronounced  expression 
during  that  particular  period.  This  done,  how 
often  the  teacher  wonders,  when  face  to  face  with 
some  apparently  unclassified  reaction  in  the  case  of 
a  particular  child,  why  he  does  not  seem  to  conform 
to  type.  In  the  home,  to  fathers  and  mothers,  children 
are  so  many  distinct  individualities;  to  teachers  also 
they  should  stand  out,  each  one  in  the  group,  an 
individual  with  particular  limitations  and  capacities. 

IMPULSIVE  TENDENCIES  OF  THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 

The  impulses  of  Juniors  are  vigorous,  spontaneous, 
and  thoroughgoing.  The  list  is  a  long  one  and 
includes  wrestling  and  fighting,  foraging,  exploring, 
hunting,  trading  and  bartering,  making  collections 
of  everything  from  stamps  to  patent-medicine  sam¬ 
ples,  investigating  how  things  are  made  and  making 
them,  chasing,  climbing,  falling.  There  is  the  im¬ 
pulse  to  express  the  parental  attitude,  to  flock 
together  in  groups,  to  seek  the  approval  of  others, 
to  compete  with  others,  to  imitate  others.  If  any 
proposed  activity  offers  a  chance  to  put  to  use 
these  many  impulses  and  gives  promise  of  loud 
and  startling  satisfactions,  such  as  bring  joy  to  a 
hardy  nature,  that  is  the  activity  for  our  Junior. 

2  Reprinted  by  permission  of  The  Macmillan  Company,  from  Peabody:  Tht 
Religious  Education  of  an  American  Citizen,  p.  169. 

33 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


We  shall  consider  only  a  few  of  these  native 
dispositions.  All  are  significant  in  the  development 
of  the  individual,  but  some  demand  special  con¬ 
sideration  from  the  church-school  teacher. 

Exuberant  energy. — Anyone  observing  a  group  of 
Juniors  together  will  be  impressed  with  the  fact 
that  the  very  air  is  tense  with  a  vitality,  with  an 
exuberance  of  energy  that  is  just  waiting  to  be 
let  loose.  Our  Junior,  first  of  all,  likes  activity. 
To  the  question  put  to  countless  teachers,  as  to 
whether  this  love  of  exuberant  activity  is  an  asset 
or  a  liability,  the  answer  invariably  comes  back, 
“An  asset.”  Have  you  ever  tried  to  teach  a  group 
of  older  Juniors  in  a  community  where  the  social 
life  of  an  adult  world  has  early  been  superimposed 
upon  them,  so  that  all  efforts  to  awaken  a  spon¬ 
taneous  response  to  ideas  was  met  with  a  blase 
indifference — no  initiative  shown,  no  ideas  forth¬ 
coming?  Have  you  longed  to  stir  them  up  and  get 
some  action,  either  good  or  bad?  If  so,  you  have 
most  surely  thanked  God  for  activity. 

The  psychologists  tell  us  that  without  activity 
one  cannot  learn  any  of  life’s  lessons.  It  follows, 
therefore,  that  without  the  activity  of  the  child 
the  teacher  cannot  teach.  The  question  that  con¬ 
fronts  the  teacher  is  whether  he  shall  help  direct 
this  outflowing  abundance  of  activity,  or  shall  the 
group  alone  control  it;  whether  it  shall  be  in  con¬ 
trol  of  one  child  who  is  the  ringleader  or  of  an  adult 
who  is  an  intelligent  guide.  One  thing  is  sure:  the 
boys  and  girls  themselves  are  certain  to  control 
the  situation  if  the  teacher  in  all  his  plans  has  not 
made  adequate  provision  for  an  abundance  of 
activity. 


34 


THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 


The  gregarious  impulse. — Of  all  the  impulses  to 

act,  this  one,  to  act  in  groups,  causes  more  anxiety 
to  many  teachers  than  any  other.  It  is  one  thing 
to  solve  a  problem  of  conduct  with  one  child  who 
is  alone;  it  is  quite  another  thing  to  solve  it  when 
this  one  child  plus  his  group  of  companions  must 
be  taken  into  account. 

The  child  of  this  age  plays  with  other  children 
more  than  he  has  done  before.  Fighting,  wrestling, 
camping,  games  of  competition — all  these  activities 
require  the  presence  of  others.  During  the  latter 
part  of  this  period  that  close  amalgamation  of 
individual  units  into  the  “gang”  begins  to  take 
place.  The  first  experiences  that  mark  the  transition 
from  the  individualism  of  early  childhood  to  a  more 
social  interest  and  control  are  often  painful.  One 
does  not  need  to  see,  one  only  needs  to  listen  to  a 
baseball  game  of  nine-year-olds  to  detect  the  struggle 
between  two  selves.  The  instinct  to  organize  into 
a  team  is  there,  but  the  incessant  wrangling  as  to 
who  is  up  to  bat,  whether  that  last  strike  was  the 
third  or  not,  how  many  balls  have  been  thrown, 
and  so  on  -ad  infinitum ,  indicates  that  the  way  to 
group  loyalty  is  still  a  long  one.  Yet,  with  all  his 
individualism,  the  gang  at  times  wields  a  powerful 
influence  over  the  Junior.  It  is  stronger,  at  times, 
than  home  or  community,  than  parent  or  teacher. 
To  be  applauded  by  “the  fellows”  guarantees  inter¬ 
nal  satisfaction,  let  dissatisfied  elders  criticize  as 
they  may. 

SPONTANEOUS  INTERESTS  OF  THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 

Some  one  has  called  interests  “life-savers.”  They 
may  be  either  life-savers  or  life-destroyers.  So 

35 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


powerful  are  they  in  determining  the  set  of  a  man’s 
character  that  they  are  of  the  utmost  concern  to 
the  teacher.  A  man  gives  attention  to  that  in  which 
he  is  interested.  The  things  that  hold  his  attention 
determine  his  action,  for  the  mind  is  so  made  that 
it  must  act  upon  the  idea  which  is  held  in  attention. 
A  Junior’s  interests  are  all  interesting.  Let  us 
look  at  a  few  of  them  and  see  their  significance. 

Interest  in  real  life. — The  reasons  for  the  Junior’s 
abundant  energy,  which  is  constantly  seeking  to 
find  new  outlets,  lie  farther  back  than  mere  hood- 
lumism.  They  lie  deep-seated  in  the  nervous  sys¬ 
tem  which  the  child  inherits.  They  are  part  and 
parcel  of  those  innate  urges  which  appear  at  this  age. 

It  is  thirst  for  the  real  that  accounts  for  much 
of  the  Junior’s  strident  and  boisterous  activity. 
It  is  real  life  which  challenges  his  interest.  He 
wants  to  come  up  against  it,  even  though  it  is  hard. 
His  mischief,  his  annoying  way  of  doing  just  the 
thing  you  wish  he  would  not  do,  may  often  be 
accounted  for  by  his  investigation  of  real  life. 
Noise  is  real.  Confusion  is  real.  Wrestling  is  real. 
Speeding  along  on  roller  skates,  oblivious  of  pedes¬ 
trians  on  the  walk;  ringing  the  neighbors’  doorbells 
and  running;  climbing  out  to  the  very  edge  of  a 
slender  tree  branch,  even  though  he  knows  it  will 
break  with  his  weight — these  and  countless  other 
experiences  are  fascinating  because  they  are  real. 

Interest  in  variety  of  experience. — This  child  is 
thoroughgoing  in  his  search  for  actualities.  He 
tries  one  experience  after  another,  which  fact  sug¬ 
gests  to  the  wise  teacher  that  if  he  likes  activity, 
he  also  likes  it  sufficiently  varied.  When  the  Junior 
expresses  a  desire  for  “something  doing,”  he  means 

36 


THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 


not  merely  activity  but  something  different.  From 
the  point  of  view  of  the  teaching  process,  then, 
anticipation  of  pleasant  surprise  is  a  great  thing. 
To  know  that  the  lesson  will  not  be  taught  in  the 
same  old  way  Sunday  after  Sunday  awakens  lively 
anticipation. 

Interest  in  reading. — By  the  age  of  nine  or  ten, 
the  newly  acquired  art  of  reading  has  become, 
in  most  cases,  a  pleasure  instead  of  a  task.  If  it 
is  true  that  our  thought-life  plays  an  important 
part  in  controlling  our  actions,  and  so  our  destinies, 
since  the  Junior  has  this  tremendous  faculty  for 
absorbing  ideas,  it  will  make  a  vast  difference  what 
books  he  reads. 

Interest  in  heroic  characters. — As  the  Junior 
likes  to  do  things  himself,  so  too  does  he  like,  either 
in  real  life  or  in  fiction,  people  who  do  things. 
It  has  been  said  that  a  normal  boy  would  just  as 
soon  read  about  a  good  boy  as  a  bad  one,  if  the 
good  boy  will  only  “do  something.”  Ideals  of 
right  living  will  be  appreciated  most  readily  by 
Juniors  through  the  concrete  acts  of  the  heroes  whom 
they  admire.  They  have  a  passion  for  the  heroic, 
and  admire  prowess  especially  of  the  physical  kind. 

Livingstone  is  their  typical  hero,  first  because  he 
explored  an  unknown  continent,  fought  single-handed 
with  lions,  and  narrowly  but  bravely  escaped  from 
the  poisoned  arrows  of  enemies.  Because  he  was 
physically  brave  they  are  prepared  to  admire  him 
as  the  man  who  kept  his  word  to  a  group  of  black 
folks,  or  who  showed  indefatigable  determination 
to  win  his  goal  against  all  odds,  or  who  sacrificed 
home,  comforts,  friends,  success  as  the  world  calls 
it,  for  the  sake  of  others. 

37 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Dramatic  interest. — Because  the  heroic  is  so  real 
to  him  and  because  of  his  own  motor-mindedness, 
the  average  child  of  this  age  feels  himself  capable 
of  any  degree  of  heroism.  He  often  tries  to  prove 
to  his  friends,  to  the  world  at  large,  and  sometimes 
to  himself,  that  he  has  in  him  the  stuff  of  which 
heroes  are  made.  So  real  is  this  world  of  the  heroic 
that  one  is  not  surprised  to  find  the  Knights  of 
the  Round  Table,  shields  and  lances  in  hand, 
prancing  on  fiery  steeds  across  the  garden  plot; 
or  on  another  day  the  same  band  transformed  into 
a  stealthy  tribe  of  Indians,  stalking  with  feathers 
and  tomahawk  across  the  front  lawn;  or,  possibly, 
by  another  wave  of  the  magic  wand,  turned  into 
Robin  Hood  and  his  merry  men  lurking  in  ambush 
under  the  lilacs.  This  interest  in  dramatization  is 
a  teaching  asset,  as  we  shall  see  later  on,  and  if 
wisely  used,  may  open  up  the  way  for  the  child  to 
live  over  again  the  great  life  experiences  of  the  men 
and  women  whose  ideals  we  would  have  him  assim¬ 
ilate. 

Play  interest. — It  will  readily  be  seen  that  most 
of  these  instinctive  interests  of  childhood  find  their 
expression  in  a  world  of  play.  When  we  speak  of 
a  “world  of  play”  we  do  not  mean  a  world  removed 
from  actuality.  The  play  world,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  the  most  real  world  in  which  the  child  lives. 
Just  how  real  it  is  was  revealed  by  the  ten-year-old 
girl  who  was  asked,  “Do  you  play  much  with  your 
dolls?”  “Oh,  no,”  she  replied,  “I  don’t  play  with 
them  at  all.  I  just  bathe  them  and  dress  them  in 
the  morning  before  I  go  to  school.  Then,  they  take 
a  nap  until  I  get  home  at  noon.  I  feed  them  before 
I  go  back  and  when  I  get  home  in  the  afternoon 

38 


THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 


I  take  them  out  to  get  the  fresh  air  and  I  sew  for 
them  and  make  their  beds  and  keep  their  things 
looking  nice.  I  don’t  play  with  them.” 

OTHER  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 

There  are  certain  general  characteristics  of  the 
Junior  child  besides  his  interests,  that  are  espe¬ 
cially  meaningful  to  the  teachers  of  Juniors.  His 
mental  alertness  is  closely  related  to  his  quick 
responses  to  every  kind  of  sensory  stimulus;  his 
desire  for  the  truth  has  some  connection  with  his 
tendency  to  seek  the  real  in  his  experience.  The 
characteristics  which  will  demand  a  large  share  of 
the  teacher’s  consideration  are  the  Junior’s  mental 
alertness,  his  self-assertiveness,  his  response  to 
authority,  his  secretiveness  about  his  thought- 
life,  his  desire  for  the  truth. 

Mental  alertness. — We  must  remember  that  the 
Junior’s  activity  is  not  only  physical.  He  craves 
intellectual  activity  as  well.  His  mind  is  active 
as  well  as  his  body.  Puzzles,  conundrums,  and  all 
sorts  of  tests  of  mental  agility  are  enjoyed.  The 
Junior  age  is  the  period  of  great  mental  alertness 
and  acquisitiveness,  when  there  seems  to  be  no 
end  to  the  amount  of  information  which  can  be 
absorbed.  While  this  is,  therefore,  the  golden 
time  for  acquiring  information,  this  mental  vigor 
means  also  that  the  mind  of  the  Junior  is  singularly 
open  to  truth  if  it  is  presented  in  the  right  way. 
During  this  age  the  foundation  of  an  open-minded¬ 
ness  which  shall  keep  the  spirit  growing  all  through 
middle  life  and  even  through  old  age  may  be  laid. 

Self-assertiveness. — The  teacher  of  the  oldest 
group  in  the  Primary  Department  will  often  notice 

39 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


toward  the  end  of  the  year  a  subtle  change  coming 
over  his  class.  Children  who  were  formerly  docile, 
pliable,  and  very  susceptible  to  any  suggestion 
from  the  teacher,  suddenly  break  out  into  unac¬ 
countable  spells  of  waywardness.  Sometimes  this 
commences  with  one  child  in  the  group  and  grad¬ 
ually  spreads  to  the  others;  sometimes  it  seems  to 
attack  the  entire  group  all  at  once.  This  means 
that  the  Primary  child  is  about  to  enter  his  Junior 
inheritance  and  the  new  impulse  to  assert  himself 
is  appearing.  This  self-assertiveness  is  part  of 
that  creative  impulse  springing  up  within  the  child. 
He  often  makes  us  shudder  at  the  blatancy  of  his 
self-assertion.  Modesty  is  not  one  of  his  graces. 
He  shrieks  the  “I”  at  us.  We  hear  him  tell  with 
unconcealed  pride  that  his  father  is  richer,  his 
brother  stronger,  or  his  Christmas  presents  more 
numerous  than  those  of  his  friend;  and  his  friend 
retaliates  in  kind. 

Response  to  authority. — But  there  are  one  or 
two  anomalies  in  the  Junior’s  instinct  to  assert 
himself.  Although  he  resents  the  authority  of  an 
individual,  although  he  may  do  everything  in  his 
power  to  show  that  he  need  not  respond  to  it,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  he  has  worn  out  more  than 
one  self-sacrificing  Sunday  school  teacher  by  placing 
every  conceivable  obstacle  in  the  way  of  discipline 
and  authority,  yet  he  responds  to  authority  even 
of  the  militaristic  type.  He  admires  only  the  leader 
who  can  control  him,  even  though  he  may  attempt 
to  upset  that  control.  For  the  Junior  knows  that 
the  man  or  woman  who  cannot  control  him  and  the 
rest  of  his  group  is  a  weakling.  He  or  she  comes  not 
under  his  list  of  heroes  who  “do  things.”  And  the 

40 


THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 


Junior  is  very  discerning;  he  is  not  easily  fooled 
about  people.  Emerson  said:  “They  know  truth 
from  counterfeit  as  quick  as  the  chemist  does. 
They  detect  weakness  in  your  eye  and  behavior  a 
week  before  you  open  your  mouth,  and  have  given 
you  the  benefit  of  their  opinion  quick  as  a  wink. 
If  I  can  pass  with  them,  I  can  manage  well  enough 
with  their  fathers.” 

Secretiveness  about  thought-life. — Another  anom¬ 
aly  lies  in  the  fact  that  although  they  may  shout 
their  “ego”  at  the  world,  they  are  strongly  secretive 
about  certain  phases  of  their  thought-life,  partic¬ 
ularly  that  which  borders  on  the  shores  of  imag¬ 
ination.  Except  for  their  absorbed  interest  in  the 
recital  of  heroic  deeds  they  will  not  let  you  know 
how  much  they  really  worship  those  heroes  of  their 
heart’s  affection,  nor  let  you  even  guess  how  much 
they  live  in  the  glamour  of  ideals.  Their  daydreams 
are  not  for  telling.  Yet  the  teacher  who  under¬ 
stands  will  know  how  shy  they  are  about  this  hidden 
life,  and  will  never  forget  for  one  moment  that 
they  do  have  their  dreams,  that  a  “boy’s  will  is  the 
wind’s  will  and  the  thoughts  of  youth  are  long, 
long  thoughts.” 

Desire  for  the  truth. — Over  against  this  inner 
dream  life  is  that  matter-of-factness  which  is  so 
often  thought  of  in  connection  with  the  child  of 
the  Junior  age.  Because  his  ideals  are  so  insistent 
he  longs  to  know  if  they  be  true.  He  no  longer 
asks,  “Is  it  a  true  story?”  He  knows  whether  or 
not  it  is  true;  at  least  he  is  skeptical  if  it  has  not  the 
ring  of  the  genuine  about  it.  So  he  must  have  the 
truth  in  answer  to  his  questions,  no  matter  how 
difficult  they  are  to  answer. 

4i 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  JUNIOR  AGE 

It  remains  for  those  of  us  who  are  to  guide  the 
child  through  the  Junior  years  to  ask  ourselves, 
“What  can  the  church  do  for  him?  What  shall  we 
in  the  Junior  Department  of  the  church  school  do 
with  his  activity,  his  sense  of  loyalty,  his  love  of 
competition,  his  interest  in  reading,  his  fondness  for 
dramatization,  his  exuberant  play,  his  admiration 
of  heroes?”  In  the  following  pages  we  shall  attempt 
to  answer  these  questions.  For  our  present  purpose 
we  may  remind  ourselves  that  what  we  do  with  all 
these  things  now  will  determine  what  he  will  do 
with  himself  during  the  stormy  years  of  adolescence 
just  ahead.  Some  one  has  likened  the  Junior  age 
to  the  mediaeval  period,  calling  it  a  dead-level 
experience,  immediately  followed  by  adolescence, 
the  time  of  “new  life,”  the  Renaissance.  At  times 
it  may  seem  to  be  more  fascinating  to  work  with 
that  next  period  of  adolescence  when  one  can  see 
the  light  dawn,  but  the  work  of  the  Junior  teacher 
is  critical.  The  future  is  in  his  hands.  For  this 
is  the  great  period  of  habit-formation  and  habits 
rule  by  reason  of  their  strength. 

The  importance  of  habit-formation. — The  very 
nature  of  the  child’s  nervous  system  is  such  that 
he  must  learn  and  express  what  he  has  learned. 
And  with  every  repetition  of  that  expression  an 
indelible  impression  is  made  upon  the  mind.  For 
this  reason,  even  at  this  time,  some  mental  processes 
and  moral  qualities  have  begun  to  be  fixed  for  life. 

“Destiny  is  the  harvest  of  character; 

Character  is  the  summation  of  habit; 

Habit  is  the  repetition  of  deed.” 

42 


THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 


The  habit  of  religion  is  not  all,  but  it  is  a  power¬ 
ful,  steadying  force  in  the  years  to  come.  Later 
the  organism  will  not  be  as  plastic  as  in  childhood. 
Physical  and  mental  upheavals  will  require  a  back¬ 
ground  of  strongly  intrenched  habits  of  right  think¬ 
ing,  right  feeling,  and  right  living,  if  they  are  not 
to  undermine  the  moral  and  religious  fiber  of  life. 

The  instinctive  response  to  religion. — The  teach¬ 
er’s  great  asset  right  now  is  that  among  all  his  other 
likes,  the  Junior  likes  religion;  not  false  piety  nor 
goody-goodness,  but  genuine,  manly,  womanly, 
invigorating  religion.  Let  us  never  forget  that  he 
is  instinctively  religious  and  that  it  is  his  birth¬ 
right  to  have  this  capacity  for  religion  cultivated. 
Parents  and  teachers  alike  should  remember  that 
among  all  the  rights  of  the  child,  his  right  to  be 
well  born,  his  right  to  a  proper  environment,  his 
right  to  an  education,  this  right  looms  above  all 
others,  namely,  his  right  to  a  normal,  happy, 
invigorating  Christian  faith.  “The  constant  thought 
of  God  as  companion  in  the  moral  struggle”3  is 
the  kind  of  faith  which  the  Junior  needs. 

For  Further  Reading: 

Hartshorne — Childhood  and  Character. 

Kirkpatrick — The  Individual  in  the  Making . 

Lee — Play  and  Education. 

Norsworthy  and  Whitely — The  Psychology  of 
Childhood. 

, 1  Hartshorne,  Childhood  and  Character,  p.  113,  Pilgrim  Press.  Used  by  permission 
of  the  author. 


43 


CHAPTER  III 


FINDING  STANDARDS  IN  THE  JUNIOR’S 

EXPERIENCE 

It  is  very  easy  for  boys  and  girls  to  have  the 
idea  that  much  talking  about  religion  constitutes 
a  real  religious  experience,  that  one’s  religion  is 
primarily  a  matter  of  the  inner  thought  life  with¬ 
out  reference  to  attitudes  and  to  daily  conduct. 
Due  to  a  wrong  conception  of  what  religion  really 
is,  many  persons  have  grown  to  maturity  with  a 
serious  failure  to  relate  their  religious  feelings  and 
ideas  to  every-day  living. 

One  morning  a  man  took  his  place  at  the  break¬ 
fast  table  in  a  dining  car,  quite  unaware  that  he 
was  immediately  recognized  by  an  observer  at  the 
next  table.  She  knew  him  to  be  a  leading  Sunday- 
school  worker;  she  had  heard  him  many  times  on 
platforms  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  training 
the  leaders  of  children.  Did  he  have  dyspepsia 
on  this  particular  morning,  or  was  it  the  habit 
of  a  lifetime,  that  prompted  him  to  abuse  the  colored 
waiter,  because  an  extra  charge  was  made  for  bread 
and  butter?  It  was  war  time.  He  had  been  travel¬ 
ing  from  coast  to  coast.  He  must  have  known  that 
everyone  was  required  to  pay  for  this  service.  He 
certainly  knew  that  the  black-faced  server  of  his 
meal  was  not  responsible  for  the  regulation.  In 
the  entire  situation  which  was  disgracefully  pro¬ 
longed  and  full  of  the  most  virulent  language,  the 

44 


FINDING  STANDARDS 


colored  man  was  the  superior  gentleman  and,  whether 
he  knew  it  or  not,  the  better  Christian  of  the  two. 
The  silent  but  indignant  observer  heard  running 
through  her  thoughts  to  the  recurring  rhythm  of 
the  revolving  car  wheels,  “What  you  are  sounds 
so  loudlyin  my  ears  that  I  cannot  hear  what  you  say.” 

And  she  remembered  too  the  Junior  boy  who,  in 
trying  to  repeat  this  saying  at  home,  unconsciously 
revised  it  to  read,  “What  you  are  sounds  so  loudly 
in  my  ears  that  I  do  not  take  any  stock  in  what 
you  say.”  Every  Junior  teacher  may  well  set 
before  him  as  a  goal  the  development  of  Christians 
who  ring  true,  whose  lives  meet  the  tests  of  a  genuine 
religious  experience.  Integrity  of  thought  is  not 
enough;  there  must  be  integrity  of  life. 

To  appreciate  the  fundamental  aims  of  religious 
education  is  the  first  step  toward  reaching  this 
goal.  To  be  merely  truthful  or  merely  enthusiastic 
and  loyal  is  not  enough.  The  teacher  needs  to  know 
what  it  means  to  Christianize  the  whole  of  life. 

THE  AIMS  OF  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  FOR  JUNIORS 

There  is  a  need  for  greater  definiteness  of  aim 
in  the  whole  educational  task.  This  is  particularly 
true  in  the  field  of  religious  education.  Just  because 
of  the  frequent  failure  of  religious  training  to  pro¬ 
duce  actual  results  in  character  there  is  an  urgent 
demand  for  a  clearer  definition  of  what  our  task  is. 
Goals  need  to  be  clearly  conceived.  Our  resources 
must  be  estimated.  We  must  take  stock  of  the 
obstacles  to  be  overcome  and  then  shape  our  methods 
for  the  achievement  of  the  desired  ends.  If  the 
teacher  of  religion  knows  clearly  what  he  is  expected 
to  accomplish  in  his  teaching,  he  has  a  standard 

45 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


by  which  to  measure  his  teaching  ability  as  well 
as  the  child’s  responses.  He  can  thus  determine 
whether  or  not  he  is  actually  teaching  religion. 

The  threefold  aim  of  religious  education. — If  it 
is  true  that  the  world  needs  to-day  men  and  women 
and  youth  who  shall  actually  live  as  Christians, 
our  first  aim  in  religious  education  is  obvious.  It 
is  to  see  that  boys  and  girls  acquire  the  ability  to 
act  religiously  under  all  circumstances.  This  con¬ 
stitutes  the  teacher’s  first  duty.  While  ability  to 
act  in  the  right  way  may  be  developed  by  placing 
children  in  situations  where  they  will  have  strong 
incentives  to  act  properly,  yet  it  must  be  remem¬ 
bered  that  there  are  two  important  factors  upon 
which  the  will  is  dependent.  An  act  of  will  implies 
choice  between  two  or  more  possibilities  of  action. 
There  must  be  an  alternative.  That  the  child  may 
know  what  is  the  best  act  in  a  given  situation,  he 
must  have  a  fund  of  ideas  on  which  to  base  his 
decision.  He  must  be  informed  as  to  the  conse¬ 
quences  of  possible  actions.  He  needs  to  be  familiar 
with  the  ways  in  which  others  have  acted  in  sim¬ 
ilar  situations.  Unless  he  has  the  power  to  dis¬ 
criminate  between  the  better  and  the  best  way,  his 
education  is  defective.  In  other  words,  he  must 
have  knowledge ,  and  knowledge  which  will  make 
possible  the  right  choices. 

And  yet  it  is  possible  for  a  person  to  have  a  store 
of  useful  knowledge  without  having  acquired  the 
ability  to  live  in  accordance  with  it.  A  person  may 
know  what  is  the  right  thing  to  do,  yet  fail  to  do  it. 
If  he  is  not  ambitious  and  determined  to  do  the 
right  thing,  or  if  he  is  not  enthusiastic  about  the 
right,  his  knowledge  does  not  bear  fruit. 

46 


FINDING  STANDARDS 


Tastes  and  desires  need  to  fasten  themselves 
upon  the  ideal  if  one  is  to  follow,  consistently,  the 
path  that  knowledge  points  out  as  the  right  one. 
The  motive  force  which  propels  a  person  to  do  the 
right  thing  when  once  he  knows  what  it  is  and 
how  to  do  it  lies  in  his  attitudes.  These  attitudes 
determine  his  scale  of  values,  his  convictions,  his 
ideals.  They  make  his  ideas  compelling.  Fruitful 
knowledge  of  past,  present,  and  future  will  con¬ 
tribute  to  the  building  up  of  a  life  attitude,  but 
other  elements  also  enter  in.  And  no  program  of 
education  is  complete  which  contents  itself  with 
only  knowledge  as  an  end;  it  must,  in  addition, 
aim  definitely  to  develop  in  the  child  those  attitudes 
which  will  make  everyday  Christian  living  an 
actual  accomplishment. 

So  every  teacher  of  religion  finds  himself  con¬ 
fronted  with  three  distinct  yet  correlated  aims, 
expressed  by  Dr.  Betts1  as 

1.  Fruitful  Knowledge. 

2.  Right  Attitudes. 

3.  Skill  in  Living. 

Fruitful  knowledge. — This  aim  is  of  special  im¬ 
portance  to  the  teacher  of  Juniors,  since  during 
the  years  between  nine  and  twelve  the  accumula¬ 
tion  of  information  is  particularly  rapid.  Facts 
are  observed,  truths  learned,  and  ideas  absorbed 
in  large  numbers.  Children  of  this  age  receive  a 
store  of  knowledge  which  bears  fruit  of  religious 
value  throughout  the  remainder  of  life.  In  dealing 
with  the  wealth  of  ideas  which  might  be  presented 
to  them  let  us  eliminate  those  which  will  only  clog 


1  Betts,  George  H.,  How  to  Teach  Religion ,  Chapter  III.  The  Abingdon  Press. 

47 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


the  machinery  of  clear  thinking  and  of  ethical 
action.  Confronted  by  each  Sunday’s  lesson,  let 
us  ask  ourselves  the  question:  “What  power  has 
this  material  to  enrich  and  make  over  the  expe¬ 
riences  of  the  members  of  my  group?” 

The  Junior’s  mind  is  at  the  top  notch  of  recep¬ 
tivity  not  only  on  Sunday  but  also  every  moment 
of  the  days  during  the  week.  Through  the  ear- 
gate  and  the  eye-gate,  at  home,  on  the  playground, 
from  the  printed  page  and  the  vivid  billboard, 
ideas  are  pouring  in.  Remembering  that  “as  a 
man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he,”  must  not  the 
church-school  teacher  realize  that  to  feed  the 
thought-life  of  growing  boys  and  girls  is  fundamental 
in  the  making  of  character?  Moral  and  religious 
ideas  must  be  winged  with  fire  if  they  are  to  mount 
supreme  above  all  the  undesirable  information 
which  life  itself  is  constantly  thrusting  upon  the 
mind  of  youth. 

Right  attitudes. — In  the  development  of  right 
attitudes  the  Junior  teacher  again  has  a  coveted 
opportunity.  The  child’s  attitudes  are  not  fixed 
unalterably  by  his  relatively  few  years  of  experience. 
Instead  of  a  nonreligious  or  an  irreligious  attitude 
toward  life  and  its  problems,  he  may  grow  up  to 
see  all  of  life  with  a  religious  significance.  He  need 
not  mature  in  such  a  way  as  to  require  a  wrench 
of  his  whole  moral  nature  to  face  squarely  an  ethical 
problem  or  to  overcome  a  temptation,  for  many 
of  the  desirable  attitudes  may  be  made  habitual 
through  repetition. 

The  ordinary  child  enters  the  Junior  Depart¬ 
ment  with  certain  attitudes  and  habits  of  action 
already  in  evidence.  Some  of  these  must  be 

48 


FINDING  STANDARDS 


strengthened  and  other  new  ones  developed.  It 
will  be  remembered  from  the  study  of  the  native 
reactions  of  children  that  certain  of  these  desirable 
attitudes  will  have  their  basis  in  the  instinctive 
impulses  and  spontaneous  interests  of  children  of 
this  age.  To  be  most  dynamic,  they  must  be 
grounded  in  the  native  tendencies  of  the  child’s 
mind.  What  are  some  of  the  right  attitudes  which 
we  should  strive  to  develop  in  the  child  while  he 
is  in  the  Junior  Department? 

The  attitude  of  trust  in  God. 

The  attitude  of  happiness. 

The  attitude  of  gratitude. 

The  attitude  of  honor. 

The  attitude  of  obedience. 

The  attitude  of  courage. 

The  attitude  of  sympathy. 

The  attitude  of  friendliness. 

The  attitude  of  loyalty. 

Although  the  child  of  the  Junior  age  is  singularly 
receptive  in  his  attitude  toward  new  ideas,  his  con¬ 
duct  is  largely  the  result  of  instincts  and  their 
attendant  emotions.  The  acquiring  of  properly 
organized  ideas  is  a  cognitive  process,  and  this 
process,  we  have  noted,  is  not  yet  highly  developed 
at  the  age  of  ten  or  eleven.  Undeniably,  more 
attention  should  be  paid  in  the  teaching  of  Juniors 
to  developing  the  appreciation  or  feeling  and  the 
motor  sides  of  the  child.  One’s  standards,  ideals, 
and  early  prejudices  are  not  easily  purified  or  exalted 
in  later  years.  Scales  of  values  are  formed  at  a 
very  early  age.  Knowledge  about  life  can  still  be 
acquired,  through  effort,  after  childhood;  but  the 
way  in  which  one  feels  toward  life  is  often  deter- 

49 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


mined  before  the  parent  or  the  teacher  is  aware 
of  it.  This  is  particularly  true  of  the  attitude 
toward  religion.  After  all,  loyalty  to  the  highest 
and  best  one  knows  is  not  so  much  a  matter  of 
knowing  what  religion  is  as  it  is  of  practice,  under 
favorable  conditions,  of  trustfully  taking  God  into 
account.  The  time  to  develop  the  most  enduring 
appreciation  of  religious  values  is  before  the  period 
of  adolescence. 

Skillful  living. — In  practice  it  is  hard  to  disso¬ 
ciate  the  right  attitude  from  its  expression  in  con¬ 
duct.  If  the  attitude  has  become  an  inherent  part 
of  a  person’s  character,  it  will  inevitably  seek  an 
outlet  in  activity.  But  one  of  the  tragedies  of 
education  lies  right  here,  in  the  gap  so  often  seen 
between  knowledge  of  the  right  thing  to  do  and 
the  actual  doing  of  it.  It  was  said  of  Bishop  Whipple 
by  a  lumberman  of  the  Northern  woods,  “There 
are  two  kinds  of  preaching,  lip-preaching  and  life¬ 
preaching,  and  the  life-preaching  does  not  rub  out.”2 
Bishop  Whipple’s  life  was  in  harmony  with  his 
spoken  word. 

In  a  recent  investigation3  it  was  discovered  by 
a  group  of  religious  educators  that  many  of  the 
social  maladjustments  found  in  adolescence  were 
due  to  ineffective  methods  of  training  in  the  years 
preceding  adolescence.  In  the  case  of  adolescent 
girls  it  was  evident  that  the  girl  was  unable  to 
assemble  her  knowledge  so  as  to  solve  her  present 
problems;  that  she  could  not  adjust  herself  to 
racial  and  national  groups  and  individuals  who 


2  Speer,  p.  26,  Servants  of  the  King.  Missionary  Education  Movement. 

3  See  Journal  of  Religious  Education,  February,  1921.  Articles  by  Mabel  E. 
Stone  and  Percy  R.  Hayward. 


50 


FINDING  STANDARDS 


were  different  from  those  with  whom  she  was  accus¬ 
tomed  to  associate;  and  that  she  lacked  a  sense  of 
assurance  that  God  is  real.  Adolescent  boys  were 
found  to  lack  courtesy  and  a  sense  of  right  deport¬ 
ment.  There  were  numerous  cases  of  dishonesty 
and  untruthfulness.  There  was  a  wrong  attitude 
toward  sex  life,  and  a  large  group  of  miscellaneous 
maladjustments,  all  of  which  were  traced  more  or 
less  directly  to  wrong  methods  used  in  the  educa¬ 
tion  of  these  young  people  in  the  earlier  years. 
Results  of  this  kind  suggest  how  critically  important  is 
the  work  of  the  Junior  teacher  in  developing  life-skills. 

In  our  teaching  we  should  aim  to  develop: 

The  self-controlled  Junior. 

The  chivalrous  Junior. 

The  generous  Junior. 

The  helpful  Junior. 

The  responsible  Junior. 

The  co-operative  Junior. 

The  Junior  world-citizen. 

Making  attitudes  and  conduct  habitual. — Perhaps 
enough  has  already  been  said  about  the  power 
of  habit  formation  during  the  Junior  period.  Skill 
in  Christian  living  means  not  sporadic  attempts  at 
being  a  Christian  but  the  habitual  attitudes  of 
Jesus  expressed  day  after  day.  Let  us  not  be  con¬ 
tent  to  simulate  a  desirable  attitude  or  to  give  it 
an  opportunity  of  expression  in  an  occasional  way, 
but  let  us  see  that  desirable  acts  are  repeated  over 
and  over  again,  for  repetition  under  favoring  con¬ 
ditions  is  the  mother  of  habit. 

THE  JUNIOR’S  CAPACITY  FOR  RELIGIOUS  LIFE 

To  realize  the  aims  of  religious  education  for 

5i 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Juniors,  it  is  necessary  to  know  just  what  is  the 
Junior’s  capacity  for  religious  development.  What 
kind  of  religious  acts  are  natural  Junior  acts?  How 
may  we  expect  him  to  think  about  his  religious 
experiences?  How  are  his  feelings  related  to  his 
religious  life?  Only  after  determining  the  Junior’s 
capacity  for  religion  is  the  teacher  ready  to  take 
up  intelligently  the  study  of  method. 

It  is  well,  occasionally,  to  remind  ourselves  that 
the  child’s  capacity  for  religious  life  varies  in  quality 
from  that  of  the  adult.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that 
many  of  the  issues  of  adult  life  are  to-day  brought 
within  the  limits  of  the  child’s  world,  still  the  world 
of  wonderful  reality  for  him  is  the  one  made  up 
of  his  own  comrades  and  their  purposeful  play. 
Here  it  is  that  he  lives  and  moves  and  has  his  being. 

This  means  that  the  child’s  problems  are  to  a 
certain  extent  different  from  those  of  his  elders, 
though  no  less  real  because  different.  The  prob¬ 
lems  of  the  adult  center  in  his  business,  politics, 
family,  community — in  the  world  of  social  con¬ 
tacts  and  future  possibilities.  Modern  pedagogy 
acts  on  the  assumption  that  the  child  is  not  merely 
preparing  to  live  at  some  remote  period  in  this 
adult  world,  but  that  he  is  living  now  in  the  present 
situation.  His  religion,  then,  to  be  his  own,  must 
be  of  such  a  character  as  to  enable  him  to  live  at 
his  best  now,  to  meet  his  present  problems. 

It  may  seem  an  astonishing  fact  that  in  spite  of 
all  our  study  of  child  life  in  recent  years  and  our 
growing  knowledge  of  psychology,  still  we  err  fre¬ 
quently  at  this  point.  Although  we  recognize  in 
every  book  on  pedagogy  that  a  child’s  mental  state 
differs  from  that  of  an  adult,  we  fail  to  see  the 

52 


FINDING  STANDARDS 


significance  of  this  fact  for  religious  education. 
We  have  adapted  our  educational  processes  to  meet 
these  child  characteristics,  yet  in  the  field  of  reli¬ 
gious  education  we  still  are  apt  to  treat  children  as 
little  adults.  We  say  one  thing  with  our  lips  and 
another  with  our  lesson  material.  We  may  recog¬ 
nize  that  the  child  is  not  religious  in  the  same  way 
that  we  are,  but  we  go  ahead  and  act  on  the  assump¬ 
tion  that  he  can  and  ought  to  be.  The  simple  fact 
remains  that  he  cannot. 

The  Junior’s  capacity  for  religious  action. — The 

Junior’s  capacity  for  religious  action  far  exceeds 
his  capacity  for  organized  thought.  The  religion 
of  the  Junior  child  is  preeminently  active.  This 
is  not  surprising  since  he  lives  so  largely  in  a  world 
made  up  of  activity.  Concrete  deeds  that  have  a 
religious  value  he  will  readily  appreciate;  the  ab¬ 
stract  statement  of  the  principles  that  underlie  the 
deed  will  convey  only  a  vague  meaning  to  him. 
He  understands  that  “doing  a  good  turn,”  pre¬ 
paring  his  Sunday-school  lesson,  being  on  time, 
assisting  the  teacher,  earning  money  for  starving 
Armenians,  playing  fair  and  square,  running  errands, 
and  a  host  of  other  concrete  acts  are  “good”  and 
therefore  desirable.  He  can  be  led  to  see  that  such 
acts  are  the  very  essence  of  a  vital  religion. 

The  Junior’s  capacity  for  organized  religious 
thought. — The  Junior’s  imagination  is  creative,  very 
active,  and  an  important  factor  in  his  thought  life. 
Through  the  power  of  the  imagination  ideals  are 
formed  and  deeds  of  heroism  pictured.  This 
imaginative  power  is  directed  toward  the  concrete. 
The  Junior  sees  particularly  the  person  doing  the 
act  rather  than  the  idea  back  of  it.  If  there  are 

53 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


certain  desirable  religious  attitudes  to  be  culti¬ 
vated  in  children  of  this  age,  the  more  concretely 
these  attitudes  can  be  set  forth  for  the  child,  the 
more  vividly  will  they  be  flashed  upon  his  con¬ 
sciousness,  and  the  more  consistently  will  they  be 
expressed  in  his  conduct. 

The  Junior’s  reasoning  faculties  are  limited  and 
yet  we  should  in  all  our  teaching  make  a  conscious 
effort  to  help  him  think  more  clearly,  to  rely  less 
upon  first  impressions,  and  to  arrive  at  his  own 
conclusions.  This  child  is  now  busy  living  and 
acquiring  information  that  will  later  serve  as  a  basis 
for  thought.  He  has  little  time  for  organizing  his 
thoughts.  They  are  becoming  orderly,  however. 
Because  he  has  not  yet  accumulated  enough  knowl¬ 
edge  or  lived  through  a  sufficient  number  of  expe¬ 
riences,  he  is  often  an  inaccurate  thinker,  arriving 
at  incorrect  conclusions.  Sometimes  the  Junior 
child  does  not  hold  his  attention  to  any  one  set  of 
facts  long  enough  to  see  their  bearing  upon  the 
problem  under  discussion.  His  failure  to  “get  the 
point”  is  often  discouraging  to  the  teacher.  And 
because  he  has  not  classified  his  knowledge  he  often, 
in  answer  to  a  question,  brings  out  the  idea  that 
first  comes  to  his  mind,  regardless  of  its  pertinency. 
What  church  school  teacher  has  not  been  vaguely 
mystified  and  perplexed  at  some  such  random 
answer? 

A  group  of  Junior  children  were  discussing  with 
the  leader  of  the  department  the  uses  of  the  money 
raised  for  church  support.  Finally  the  question  of 
salaries  was  mentioned.  “Whose  salaries  are  paid 
by  the  church?”  was  asked.  “The  Sunday-school 
teachers’,”  was  one  quick  reply.  This  child,  it 

54 


FINDING  STANDARDS 


developed,  knew  perfectly  well  that  no  church 
school  teacher  in  that  church  had  ever  been  paid 
for  his  teaching  services.4 

The  Junior  child  must  gradually  learn  to  think 
from  the  particular  to  the  general,  from  concrete 
to  abstract.  All  the  teaching  in  the  Junior  Depart¬ 
ment  should  help  him  gradually  to  form  principles 
of  right  action  from  the  concrete  deeds  which  he 
so  readily  appreciates.  We  must  help  the  Junior 
to  develop  the  power  to  reach  general  or  abstract 
conclusions  and  not  merely  to  consider  the  par¬ 
ticular  ones  in  hand.  One  October  evening  a  group 
of  three  boys  were  riding  their  bicycles  through  the 
neatly  piled  leaves  that  lined  the  parkways  in  front 
of  their  homes.  These  piles  of  leaves  represented 
hours  of  labor,  first  by  members  of  their  own  fam¬ 
ilies,  and  then  by  the  street  cleaners  of  the  village. 
At  the  end  of  thirty  minutes  the  work  of  one  entire 
day  was  demolished.  These  boys  were  all  normally 
thoughtful  boys  in  their  homes,  helpful  to  their 
mothers,  not  unnecessarily  destructive  of  property; 
no  one  of  them  wantonly  would  have  despoiled  the 
frosting  of  a  newly  baked  cake  in  his  own  kitchen, 
or  have  littered  the  contents  of  the  waste  paper 
baskets  all  over  the  house.  What  they  lacked  was 
not  thoughtfulness  for  others,  but  the  application 
of  that  principle  to  wider  social  areas.  This  might 
have  come  from  a  more  definite  social  emphasis 
in  their  religious  training. 

The  Junior’s  capacity  for  religious  feeling. — Chil¬ 
dren  naturally  have  a  marked  capacity  for  feeling. 
This  native  capacity  should  be  utilized,  but  not 


*  For  observations  on  children’s  thinking,  see  Norsworthy  and  Whitely, 
Psychology  of  Childhood,  Chapter  X. 

55 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


abused.  The  Junior’s  feelings  are  apt  to  be  strong 
and  vivid  while  they  last.  They  are  not  apt  to  be 
very  deep  or  of  a  lasting  quality.  As  new  objects 
crowd  in  upon  the  child’s  consciousness,  one  emo¬ 
tion  gives  place  to  another.  However,  this  does 
not  mean  that  the  emotions  are  not  influential  in 
affecting  conduct.  The  Junior  acts  more  often 
under  the  propulsion  of  his  feelings  than  of  his 
ideas.  The  more  often  the  Junior  can  be  made  to 
feel  as  he  should,  the  more  surely  will  his  conduct 
be  what  it  should,  and  outbursts  of  undesirable 
emotions  will  be  less  frequent. 

Feelings  of  sympathy,  generosity,  gratitude,  good 
will,  reverence,  as  we  have  seen,  need  to  be  cul¬ 
tivated.  Religious  training  has  sometimes  been 
accused  of  arousing  the  emotions  unduly  or  with¬ 
out  supplying  suitable  outlets.  The  result  is  that 
the  springs  of  fine  feeling  soon  dry  up.  The  teacher 
of  Juniors  needs  to  keep  a  fair  balance  between  the 
impartation  of  ideas  and  the  cultivation  of  feeling 
on  the  one  hand  and  between  the  cultivation  of  the 
emotions  and  their  expression  in  conduct,  on  the  other. 

THE  ADAPTATION  OF  METHOD  TO  THE  RELIGIOUS 
EDUCATION  OF  THE  JUNIOR 

The  whole  point  of  view  of  this  chapter  assumes 
that  the  great  objective  in  all  religious  education 
is  the  child  himself,  with  his  expression  of  character 
in  Christian  living.  To  this  end  the  curriculum 
must  be  chosen  which  will  best  enable  the  teacher 
to  meet  the  child’s  needs  and  to  develop  his  ability 
to  live  as  he  should.  Method  is  that  mode  of  pro¬ 
cedure  which  will  best  help  the  child  to  interpret 
life  and  to  relate  himself  to  it  in  the  most  fruit- 

56 


FINDING  STANDARDS 


ful  way.  Method  and  devices  should  not  be  con¬ 
fused.  Devices  may  mend  a  break  or  stop  a  leak 
temporarily;  method  is  fundamental,  and  gives  prin¬ 
ciples  upon  which  to  work  intelligently.  Devices 
may  work  in  one  situation  and  not  at  all  in  another; 
method  can  be  applied  to  any  situation,  because  it 
always  grows  out  of  the  life  experience  of  the  child. 

The  first  three  chapters  of  this  book  deal  with 
the  first  objective  of  religious  education,  the  child; 
the  next  two  take  up  the  question  of  subject  matter; 
the  remaining  chapters  have  to  do  with  method. 

Individual  differences  among  children. — Last  of 
all,  not  all  children  respond  to  religious  training  in 
the  same  way.  The  general  law  of  individual 
variation  applies  to  religious  experience.  Some 
individuals  are  ideo-motor.  They  respond  chiefly  in 
terms  of  action.  Such  children  are  quick  to  act. 
They  are  little  troubled  by  the  whys  and  wherefores. 
Their  attitude  toward  life  is  primarily  a  desire  to  take 
up  things  that  need  to  be  done.  Some  children  are 
emotional  in  their  responses.  For  them,  the  mysti¬ 
cal  element  in  religion  has  a  strong  pull.  The 
teacher  must  study  his  group,  must  remember 
that  no  two  souls  travel  the  same  way  to  God, 
and  must  prayerfully  command  all  his  understanding 
of  human  nature  and  all  his  knowledge  of  the 
technique  of  teaching  for  his  supreme  task,  the 
making  of  individual  Christians. 

For  Further  Reading : 

Betts,  George  Herbert — How  to  Teach  Religion , 
Chapters  III,  IV,  V,  and  VI. 

Coe — A  Social  Theory  of  Religious  Education , 
Chapters  II,  V,  VI,  XI,  and  XII. 

57 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Norsworthy  and  Whitely — The  Psychology  of 
Childhood ,  Chapters  I  and  XIII. 

Strayer  and  Norsworthy — How  to  Teach ,  Chapters 
X  and  XI. 

Peabody — The  Religious  Education  of  an  Amer¬ 
ican  Citizen ,  Chapter  I. 

Hartshorne — Childhood  and  Character ,  Chapters 
VI,  X,  and  XI. 

Mumford — The  Dawn  of  Religion  in  the  Mind 
of  the  Child ,  Chapter  VI. 


58 


CHAPTER  IV 


THE  CURRICULUM  FOR  THE  JUNIOR 

CHILD 

A  curriculum,  however  well  planned,  is  of  little 
practical  use  unless  it  is  studied,  and  its  study  will 
bear  little  fruit  unless  done  by  children  who  have 
appetites  for  it.  The  children  should  recognize  that 
the  thing  which  they  have  been  asked  to  study 
has  grown  out  of  their  own  experience  and  will 
minister  to  that  experience.  It  is  not  sufficient  that 
the  teacher  alone  select  the  curriculum;  we  must 
get  the  children  to  choose  it  and  to  plunge  into  its 
study  with  the  desire  to  find  out  what  it  contains 
for  them.  Too  often  in  the  past  has  a  curriculum 
been  superimposed  upon  children  with  no  thought 
of  its  motivation. 

One  of  the  first  secrets  of  motivation  of  subject 
matter  is  that  it  shall  be  what  the  child  needs  and 
not  what  some  older  person  erroneously  surmises  he 
ought  to  have.  Teachers  have  been  asking,  “What 
shall  we  teach  the  children?”  And  the  answer  to 
that  question  points  to  the  child  and  his  needs, 
particularly  the  child  as  a  member  of  society.  There 
is  particular  need  of  a  “socialized  curriculum,”  mean¬ 
ing  one  that  better  fits  the  child  to  live  his  own  life, 
and  to  live  in  a  world  where  great  social  issues  are 
at  stake.  Are  there  any  changes  which  should  be 
made  in  our  present  curriculum  of  religious  educa¬ 
tion  which  will  make  it  more  vital,  more  pertinent 
to  the  child’s  experience?  How  can  we  enrich  the 

59 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


curriculum  of  religious  education?  In  our  study  of 
what  we  shall  teach  Juniors,  let  us  keep  an  open 
mind,  recognizing  the  merit  of  much  of  our  present 
teaching  material,  while  we  search  out  ways  of 
enriching  it  and  of  increasing  its  educational  value. 

THE  THREEFOLD  CURRICULUM  OF  RELIGIOUS 

EDUCATION 

Every  type  of  material  used  for  teaching  pur¬ 
poses  in  a  Junior  Department  may  and  should  be 
considered  as  curriculum  material.  So,  we  may 
say  that  our  Junior  will  study  a  threefold  curriculum: 

The  Curriculum  of  Activity. 

The  Curriculum  of  Worship. 

The  Curriculum  of  Information. 

The  last  two  are  so  closely  bound  up  with  the  method 
of  presentation  that  they  will  receive  special  atten¬ 
tion  in  chapters  later  on.  This  chapter  and  the 
next  one  deal  with  the  Curriculum  of  Information 
for  Junior  children. 

The  curriculum  of  activity.— The  curriculum  of 
activity  is,  in  many  ways,  the  most  difficult  of  the 
three  to  plan  for,  to  control,  and  to  test  by  any 
standards  of  value.  What  the  child  thinks  or  says 
that  he  thinks  the  teacher  can  tabulate.  What 
he  does  and  is  eludes  statistics.  One  cannot  plan 
a  curriculum  of  activity  for  all  the  Junior’s  waking 
hours.  But  the  church  school  can  do  far  more 
than  it  has  been  doing  in  making  a  place  for  a 
unified  program  of  activity,  definitely  adapted  to 
the  age  of  each  group.  Naturally,  this  curriculum 
of  activity  will  be  related  to  the  material  studied 
in  the  lessons  as  well  as  to  that  which  is  included 
in  the  curriculum  of  worship.  There  will  necessarily 

60 


CURRICULUM  FOR  THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 


be  an  overlapping  of  material  and  activity  in  all 
three  of  the  curricula.  Chapters  XIV,  XV,  XVI, 
and  XVII  deal  with  the  curriculum  of  activity. 

The  curriculum  of  worship.— In  Chapters  XI, 
XII,  and  XIII  the  subject  of  the  materials  of 
worship  will  be  considered  along  with  the  question 
of  best  methods  in  teaching  Juniors  how  to  worship. 
Naturally  and  desirably,  some  of  the  material  used 
in  the  lesson  study  will  creep  into  the  worship 
curriculum,  and  the  wise  teacher  will  often  take 
over  from  the  worship  period  material  used  there 
for  further  teaching  emphasis  in  the  classroom. 
The  materials  of  worship  form  a  curriculum  in  them¬ 
selves  and  should  be  graded  to  meet  the  worship 
needs  of  Junior  children. 

The  curriculum  of  information. — Until  a  few 

years  ago  informational  material  was  all  that  was 
thought  of  when  the  word  “curriculum”  was  men¬ 
tioned.  In  the  light  of  more  recent  theories  of 
education  information  may  be  secured  from  ma¬ 
terials  not  always  found  between  the  covers  of 
the  textbooks.  Any  curriculum,  to  satisfy  the 
student’s  needs,  must  be  identified  with  his  present 
experiences,  or,  if  taken  from  the  past,  must  have 
a  message  closely  related  to  his  present  interests. 
Information  is  for  use.  It  is  not  to  be  labeled  and 
set  aside  in  pigeon  holes  of  the  mind  for  future  use 
only,  while  the  pupil  suffers  in  present  living  situa¬ 
tions  because  he  does  not  know  how  to  meet  them. 

THE  CURRICULUM  OF  INFORMATION  FOR  JUNIORS 

A  survey  of  existing  curricula  seems  to  indicate 
that  at  the  present  time  the  Junior  child  is  suffer¬ 
ing  somewhat  from  a  diet  of  more  or  less  inadequate 

61 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


material.  He  is  wide-awake  and,  because  his  mind 
is  so  unusually  and  readily  receptive  of  any  and  all 
ideas,  has  been  allowed  to  remain  the  victim  of 
a  curriculum  which  crams  his  receptive  mind  with 
many  ideas  not  immediately  needed  while  it  denies 
it  many  more  which  would  be  of  very  immediate 
help.  Those  who  understand  the  Juniors  are  becom¬ 
ing  conscious  of  the  lack  of  real  nourishment  in 
much  of  the  material  that  is  now  on  the  market. 
They  see  that  the  Junior  is  not  just  to  gorge  himself 
in  the  Junior  Department  on  enough  food  of  every 
variety  to  last  him  for  a  lifetime;  that  the  books 
of  the  Bible,  and  the  kings  of  Judah  and  Israel  in 
their  order,  the  twelve  apostles  and  the  beatitudes 
and  all  the  rest  are  not  sufficient  in  themselves  to 
help  a  Junior  boy  or  girl  to  think  clean  thoughts, 
or  to  play  a  fair  game,  or  to  tell  the  truth  at  all 
times.  Mrs.  Dorothy  Dickinson  Barbour  says:1 
“What  will  most  help  him  (the  Junior)  to  carry  out 
his  own  best  purposes,  and  to  make  his  purposes 
increasingly  Christian?  We  realize  that  this  implies 
knowledge  of  precisely  what  behaviors  and  ideals 
characterize  a  perfect  Christian  of  ten.  It  calls  for 
experience  as  to  exactly  the  times  when  he  feels 
it  difficult  to  be  good.  It  demands  study  of  what 
does  most  help  him  to  achieve  and  improve  his 
purposes.’’ 

Our  subject  matter,  then,  should  be  such  as  will 
actually  transform  experience.  It  will  not  take 
precedence  over  the  child,  but  will  minister  to  him 
in  his  daily  life,  in  his  attempt  to  understand  life, 
and  to  live  as  he  should  between  Sundays  as  well 

1  Dorothy  Dickinson  Barbour  in  Journal  of  Religious  Education,  December, 
1920,  “What  to  Teach  Juniors.'^ 

62 


CURRICULUM  FOR  THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 


as  on  Sunday.  The  subject  matter  for  Juniors 
should  aim  to  be  within  the  range  of  the  Junior’s 
own  interest  and  experience,  so  that  he  may,  first 
of  all,  want  to  study  it  and,  in  the  second  place, 
understand  and  appropriate  it. 

Present  experiences  of  nine-  to  eleven-year-old 
children. — If  we  are  to  change  the  attitudes  of 
children  and  give  them  real  skill  in  Christian  living, 
it  is  evident  that  some  of  the  subject  matter  must 
be  selected  from  their  present  experiences.  What 
kinds  of  experiences  in  the  lives  of  Juniors  furnish 
material  for  religious  education? 

First  of  all,  such  material  may  be  found  in  the 
everyday  living  of  the  children.  A  group  of  chil¬ 
dren  in  a  church-school  class  were  discovered  call¬ 
ing  a  little  Armenian  girl,  recently  admitted  to  the 
group,  a  “nigger.”  The  Christmas  season  was 
approaching,  when  the  school  was  to  make  its  gift 
of  money  for  the  starving  children  in  Bible  lands. 
The  regular  course  of  study  was  laid  aside  for  four 
Sundays  and  the  Near-East  problem  taken  up  with 
the  class.  This  included  stories  of  the  heroism  of 
some  of  the  children  in  those  same  Bible  lands. 
Gradually  it  developed  that  Mary,  the  Armenian 
child,  had  many  relatives  killed  in  the  recent  perse¬ 
cutions,  that  her  own  family  had  escaped  to  Amer¬ 
ica.  When,  on  Christmas  Sunday,  a  simple  dram¬ 
atization  of  child-life  in  Palestine  was  given  and 
the  leading  parts  were  taken  by  Mary  and  her 
Armenian  brothers  and  sisters,  contempt  had  given 
way  to  admiration.  The  real  subject  matter  used 
in  that  class  for  those  four  weeks  was  not  the  Near- 
East  problem  but  the  social  situation  in  the  group, 
and  the  wise  teacher  found  many  ways  for  the 

63 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


children  to  show  their  changing  attitude  to  the 
little  girl  who  was  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land. 

Legitimate  material  may  also  be  found  in  social 
conditions  in  the  community  in  which  the  children 
live.  In  a  certain  community  the  entire  question 
of  proper  moving  pictures  was  under  agitated  dis¬ 
cussion  by  the  adults.  Petitions  were  being  cir¬ 
culated  by  the  moving-picture  manager  for  open 
Sunday  movies.  The  same  manager  had  disregarded 
the  refusal  of  the  local  Board  of  Censors  to  show 
an  undesirable  film  on  Saturday  afternoon,  when 
the  patrons  of  the  house  were  largely  children. 
Was  this  entirely  an  adult  problem?  The  children 
did  not  think  so.  They  understood  that  they  were 
involved  in  the  discussion.  In  little  groups  on  street 
corners,  in  the  Sunday  school  before  the  opening 
service,  they  fought  their  word-battles  for  and 
against,  in  imitation  of  their  elders;  and  they  quoted 
largely  from  the  adults  whom  they  knew.  In  one 
church  school  the  superintendent  called  a  meeting 
of  the  teachers  of  the  Junior  Department  and  it 
was  decided  to  take  at  least  three  or  four  Sundays 
to  study,  as  a  department,  some  phases  of  com¬ 
munity  life  and  its  preservation  from  harmful 
influences.  Those  children  were  receiving  their 
first  training  in  the  creation  of  an  intelligent  public 
opinion  in  community  matters  and  in  the  applica¬ 
tion  of  Christian  principles  to  the  solving  of  social 
questions. 

Material  of  this  type  may  also  be  found  in  present 
world- situations.  We  have  already  seen  that  chil¬ 
dren  to-day  live  in  a  very  large  world.  “He  hath 
set  the  world  in  their  hearts.”  If  we  are  ever  to 
have  a  world  in  which  peace  shall  reign  and  good- 

64 


CURRICULUM  FOR  THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 


will  shall  bind  the  nations  together,  we  must  begin 
with  the  children  and  make  a  place  in  the  church- 
school  curriculum  for  a  study  of  the  attitudes  and 
conditions  which  will  promote  peace.  We  felt  the 
failure  of  education  sorely  at  this  point  when  the 
horror  of  the  World  War  was  upon  us.  Let  us 
not  forget  again  that 

“The  future  lies  with 
Those  whose  eyes 
Are  open  to  the  necessities.”2 

It  is  one  of  the  legitimate  functions  of  the  church 
school  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  children  through  its 
curriculum. 

A  word  of  caution  is  not  out  of  place  in  speaking 
of  this  type  of  curriculum  material.  Because  of 
the  nature  of  the  subject,  it  is  difficult  to  have  any 
suitable  printed  matter.  Since  it  is  to  be  found  in 
the  actual  experiences  of  each  group  of  Junior 
children,  only  those  who  are  working  with  each 
group  can  know  adequately  what  it  will  be  and 
what  is  the  opportune  time  for  introducing  it.  In 
the  hands  of  teachers  who  are  not  gifted  in  organ¬ 
izing  their  material  well,  this  treatment  of  curric¬ 
ulum  might  descend  into  a  mere  aimless  discussion 
of  a  variety  of  commonplace  problems,  while  other 
aspects  of  the  curriculum,  such  as  the  teaching 
from  the  Bible,  might  be  neglected.  If  the  church 
school  has  a  trained  director  of  religious  education, 
working  with  a  Church  Board  of  Education  and 
supervising  the  entire  program  of  the  church  school, 
this  type  of  material  may  be  introduced  as  a  defi¬ 
nite  part  of  a  larger  program. 


2  John  Oxenham. 


65 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Biblical  material. — When  we  consider  the  material 
to  be  used  in  the  Junior  curriculum  which  is  not 
found  in  the  Bible,  we  shall  see  that  it  divides 
itself  into  such  groupings  as  history,  literature, 
nature,  art,  and  music.  The  biblical  material  itself 
also  falls  naturally  into  such  a  grouping,  for  the 
Bible  contains  the  literature  and  history  of  the 
Hebrew  people.  We  need  to  remind  ourselves,  as 
well  as  the  children  whom  we  teach,  that  this  great 
Book  is  really  a  library  of  books.  As  such  it  needs 
discrimination  in  the  selection  and  teaching  of  its 
contents. 

What  parts  of  the  Bible  supply  material  suitable 
for  Junior  children?  While  the  Old-Testament 
material  was  the  product  of  the  childhood  of  the 
Hebrew  people  and  has,  therefore,  in  many  places 
a  charming  directness  of  approach,  a  swiftness  of 
action,  a  vividness  of  style  that  make  many  of 
its  stories  masterpieces,  yet  the  Bible  as  a  whole 
was  not  written  primarily  for  children  but  for 
adults,  and  for  adults  living  in  a  world  of  social 
situations  and  personal  standards  far  different  from 
those  of  to-day.  This  thought  will  guide  us  in  the 
selection  of  Bible  stories. 

On  the  basis  of  the  Junior’s  native  interests,  the 
Bible  yields  for  him  the  lives  of  heroes  who  did 
things,  the  exploits  of  kings  and  the  crowning  of 
heroes,  tales  of  adventure  and  exploring,  of  camp 
life  in  the  desert,  of  the  excursions  of  early  mis¬ 
sionaries  by  land  and  sea,  of  shipwreck  and  of 
persecution,  of  the  victorious  life  of  a  moral  hero 
like  Jesus.  On  the  basis  of  the  Junior’s  needs, 
there  are  stories  of  men  and  women  who  lived  in 
companionship  with  God,  whose  life  experiences 

66 


CURRICULUM  FOR  THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 


were  continually  being  reconstructed  in  the  light 
of  a  growing  God-consciousness  and  an  increasingly 
clear  ideal  of  conduct.  Such  stories  will  include 
the  story  of  “Abraham,  who  went  out  not  knowing 
whither  he  went,”  but  who  went  in  company  with 
his  God;  of  Gideon,  who,  with  a  handful  of  men, 
overcame  his  enemies  because  of  that  inner  con¬ 
sciousness  that  his  God  was  with  him.  There  are 
also  the  stories  of  men  and  women  who  learned 
life’s  great  lessons  by  passing  through  experiences 
duplicated  in  our  own  lives  to-day.  Such  were 
Saul,  who  could  not  rule  a  kingdom  because  he 
could  not  rule  his  own  spirit;  David,  who  could  be 
magnanimous  to  a  foe,  and  from  whose  mind  no 
amount  of  prosperity  could  obliterate  the  memory 
of  old  friendships. 

It  is  impossible  to  list  here  in  detail  all  of  the 
Bible  material  appropriate  for  Junior  children. 
The  following  outline  is  merely  suggestive,  and 
within  each  group  much  wise  selection  of  material 
is  necessary. 

Hero  Tales  of  Early  Hebrews. 

Some  Stories  from  the  Times  of  the  Kings. 

Few  Selected  Stories  of  the  Prophets. 

Life  of  Jesus. 

Stories  of  the  Early  Christian  Missionaries.  • 

Extra-biblical  material. — There  is  a  wealth  of 
material,  not  found  in  the  Bible,  available  for  the 
religious  education  of  Juniors.  This  extra-biblical 
subject  matter  is  rich  in  material  of  religious  educa¬ 
tional  value.  For  purposes  of  clearness  we  may 
subdivide  it  into  material  from  (i)  History,  past 
and  present,  (2)  Literature,  (3)  Nature,  (4)  Art, 
(5)  Music. 


67 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


History  Past  and  Present.  Children  are  the  hope 
of  the  future  in  that  they  may  inaugurate  new 
attitudes  toward  the  solving  of  the  world’s  prob¬ 
lems.  They  are  also  the  inheritors  and  custodians 
of  the  past,  and  they  need  the  clearest  insight  into 
the  best  which  the  past  has  to  offer.  Only  thus 
can  they  conserve  that  past  experience  and  utilize 
its  richness  of  suggestion  in  the  meeting  of  present 
situations.  So,  the  appropriate  study  of  history 
will  greatly  enrich  the  child’s  experience.  Remem¬ 
bering  that  we  are  not  attempting  to  teach  history 
in  the  church  school,  but,  rather,  Christian  living, 
we  shall  select  from  the  history  of  the  past  that  ma¬ 
terial  which  is  most  serviceable  in  teaching  religion. 

Teaching  from  history  will  include  the  lives  of 
Christian  heroes  and  heroines  who  have  kept  the 
torch  burning  since  the  days  of  Jesus  and  his  early 
followers,  and  the  stories  of  men  and  women  living 
in  our  own  day  who  are  living  as  Christians — such 
men  as  Grenfell  of  the  Labrador  and  Higgenbotham 
of  India.  The  missionary  literature  of  the  church 
is  rich  with  incidents  suitable  for  the  interests  of 
growing  boys  and  girls  and  removes  from  their 
minds  any  impression  that  God  stopped  revealing 
himself  to  men  with  the  last  page  of  the  Bible. 

Junior  children  should  receive  some  knowledge 
of  the  world’s  needs  and  how  they  can  be  met. 
They  need  facts  about  children  who  work  in  indus¬ 
trial  centers,  children  who  starve  in  Bible  lands, 
in  the  famine  districts  of  China,  in  war-ridden 
Europe,  about  children  who  are  misunderstood  as 
the  foreigners  who  come  to  America.  There  is  also 
information  about  the  Christian  cause,  the  story 
of  the  extension  of  Christianity  throughout  the 

68 


CURRICULUM  FOR  THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 


world  and  its  incarnation  in  the  lives  of  Oriental 
Christians.  Children  can  receive,  in  moderation, 
without  any  sectarian  emphasis,  something  of  the 
story  of  their  own  denominational  history  stressing 
its  constructive  values  and  also  the  achievements 
of  their  own  local  church  with  its  plan  of  work,  so 
that  they  may  feel  themselves  a  vital  part  of  it. 

Literature. — While  it  is  not  the  function  of  the 
church  school  to  teach  literature  as  such,  still  liter¬ 
ature  holds  for  the  understanding  teacher  a  sure 
revelation  of  the  ways  of  God  with  men.  Under 
the  inspiration  of  a  tremendous  spiritual  idealism 
men  and  women  have  conveyed  in  forms  of  living 
beauty,  in  story  and  poetry,  a  wealth  of  religious 
values  which  should  be  linked  with  the  Psalms 
and  the  Old-Testament  stories  in  teaching  Juniors. 
Some  of  this  material  from  the  field  of  literature 
may  be  chosen  as  a  part  of  the  curriculum  of  in¬ 
formation;  some  of  it  may  be  used  as  illustrative 
material;  much  of  it  will  be  incorporated  in  the 
curriculum  of  worship. 

Nature  Material.  In  the  Beginners’  and  Primary 
Departments  of  the  church  school  much  of  the 
teaching  material  is  taken  from  the  world  of  nature, 
yet  in  the  available  courses  planned  for  Juniors 
there  is  little  definite  consideration  of  this  type  of 
subject  matter.  Why  is  this  true?  Have  children 
suddenly,  at  the  age  of  nine,  ceased  to  love  nature 
or  to  be  influenced  by  her  beauty?  Juniors  not 
only  enjoy  the  beauty  and  the  power  of  nature; 
they  are  beginning  to  be  interested  also  in  her 
wonderful  laws. 

The  following  poem  reflects  the  Junior’s  attitude 
toward  nature: 


69 


JUNIOR  METHOD  iN 'THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 

Going  to  School  to  God3 

“I  like  to  go  to  school  to  God! 

I  hear  such  strange,  revealing  things; 

He  talks  to  me  where  rivers  run 

And  where  a  skylark  soars  and  sings. 

“He  teaches  me  his  love  and  care 

Through  every  tree  and  blade  of  grass 
Here  on  the  hill,  where  I  may  sit 

And  listen  while  the  wild  winds  pass. 

“He  writes  with  glaciers  on  the  rocks 

And  with  the  stars  that  blaze  on  high; 
With  fossil  shells  and  ferns  that  fall 
And  leave  their  imprint  as  they  die. 

“His  books  are  beds  of  slate  and  coal; 

His  manuscripts  sequoia  trees; 

While  earthquakes  punctuate  the  tale 
And  turn  the  pages  of  the  seas. 

“His  blackboard  is  a  canyon  wall 
Whereon  he  writes  of  ages  past, 

In  even  lines  the  strata  tell 

Of  things  that  shall  forever  last. 

“He  writes  with  rivers,  and  they  carve 
The  crevices  he  leaves,  to  tell 
The  story  of  his  living  love 
In  temple,  tower,  and  pinnacle. 

“I  like  to  go  to  school  to  God 
Because  it  always  seems  to  me 
He  talks  in  every  breeze  that  blows; 

Through  every  bud,  and  bird  and  bee.” 


3  By  William  L.  Stidger,  in  T'he  Christian  Century,  June  9,  1921. 


CURRICULUM  FOR  THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 

Through  a  study  of  nature’s  laws  Juniors  can  be 
led  to  see  God’s  marvelous  forethought  and  care  as 
in  no  other  way.  The  Beacon  Course  of  lessons 
recognizes  the  possibilities  for  the  religious  educa¬ 
tion  of  Juniors  in  this  type  of  material  and  pro¬ 
vides  for  its  teaching  definitely  during  the  Junior 
period  in  the  course  “ God’s  Wonder  World.”  A 
whole  year  spent  in  studying  nature  material  may 
seem  too  long  a  time;  but  a  substantial  amount  of 
nature  material  can  and  should  be  incorporated 
into  the  Junior  curriculum. 

Art  Material .  Great  truths  find  their  access  to 
the  human  mind  through  more  than  one  medium. 
There  is  a  certain  kind  of  appeal  from  the  colored 
canvas  and  the  chiseled  marble  which  cannot  be 
made  by  literature.  Many  are  the  instances  of  the 
power  which  the  expression  of  religion  in  art  has  to 
touch  the  spirit.  There  should  be  a  far  larger  use 
of  it  in  our  teaching  of  children. 

It  seems  almost  unnecessary  to  say  that  all  art 
material  selected  should  be  of  the  very  best.  Some 
religious  pictures  have  very  little  real  art  value. 
There  is  so  much  that  is  good  that  we  do  not  need 
to  use  anything  less  than  the  finest.  It  is  true  of 
children,  as  of  adults,  that  we  “needs  must  love  the 
highest  when  we  see  it.”  Representations  like 
Michel  Angelo’s  sculptured  “David”  or  Hofmann’s 
“The  boy  Jesus”  have  a  tremendous  power  to 
revitalize  the  spirit. 

The  illustrations  accompanying  Junior  textbooks 
should  also  be  of  the  best.  They  should  be  true 
to  details  of  Palestine  life  and  customs,  to  coloring 
and  form,  as  well  as  to  the  spirit  of  the  stories 
which  they  illustrate.  In  using  art  material  it 

7 1 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


should  be  graded  as  all  other  curriculum  matter  is. 
Some  great  works  of  religious  art  are  beyond  the 
comprehension  of  Junior  children,  as  they  repre¬ 
sent  spiritual  experiences  to  which  they  have  not 
yet  arrived. 

Music.  Music  provides  another  medium  through 
which  the  spiritual  nature  may  be  touched  with 
truth  and  beauty.  Here  again  only  the  best 
should  be  used.  We  cannot  expect  serious  expres¬ 
sions  of  religion  in  everyday  living  while  children 
indulge  in  cheap  tunes  on  Sunday.  Great  spiritual 
experiences  require  correspondingly  lofty  music  for 
their  expression.  And  children  are  capable  of 
response  to  the  very  highest. 

STRESS  AND  NEGLECT  IN  USING  THE  CURRICULUM 

The  teacher  must  not  be  a  slave  to  his  curriculum, 
but  must  use  it  only  as  a  tool.  It  is  almost  im¬ 
possible  for  any  group  of  textbook  writers  to  pre¬ 
pare  a  course  of  study  which  shall  adequately  meet 
all  the  needs  of  all  the  children  in  all  the  various 
types  of  communities  for  an  entire  nation.  It 
remains  for  the  teacher  to  know  how  to  emphasize 
certain  parts  of  the  curriculum  and  to  neglect  those 
which  are  not  well  suited  to  his  group.  In  teach¬ 
ing  the  Junior  curriculum  there  are  several  differ¬ 
ent  ways  in  which  we  may  all  agree  to  use  this  law 
of  “stress  and  neglect.” 

In  teaching  the  life  of  Jesus. — In  teaching  the 
life  of  Jesus  to  Juniors  the  quality  of  moral  heroism 
should  be  stressed.  This  emphasis  must  not  fall 
short  of  those  heroic  aspects  which  appeal  to  the 
child  in  the  Old-Testament  hero  stories.  The 
events  of  Jesus’  life  are  sufficiently  dramatic  to  hold 

72 


CURRICULUM  FOR  THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 


the  admiring  attention  of  any  group  of  eleven-year- 
olds.  He  was  beset  by  enemies  and  he  held  himself 
to  speaking  and  living  the  truth  in  spite  of  physical 
and  moral  dangers.  There  is  a  point  of  contact 
between  his  life  and  that  of  the  average  child,  in 
that  he  lived  much  in  the  open,  tramped  the  hill 
country  of  Galilee,  climbed  Mount  Hermon,  sailed 
the  seas  in  rough  weather,  and  slept  under  the 
stars.  The  power  of  his  winning  personality  which 
“drew  all  men  to  him”  can  also  draw  the  American 
boy  and  girl. 

The  Junior  should  also  see  Jesus  fighting  his 
battles  for  spiritual  supremacy,  meeting  and  over¬ 
coming  the  three  temptations.  Out  of  his  moral 
struggles  comes  the  convincing  proof  to  a  world 
of  strugglers  that  they  can  “do  all  things  through 
Christ.”  Many  young  people  have  grown  up  with 
an  unreal  Christ  who  was  never  a  flesh-and-blood 
character;  in  no  sense  human,  only  divine.  They 
have  a  feeling  that  of  course  he  was  brave,  of 
course  he  overcame  temptations,  for  he  had  access 
to  some  supernatural  power  that  helped  him  but 
which  does  not  help  us. 

He  did  not  sin — no.  Life  placed  in  his  way,  as 
in  ours,  the  opportunity,  but  he  met  these  tempta¬ 
tions  and  left  them  behind.  There  is  a  thrill,  an 
inspiration,  a  foretaste  of  glory  in  such  a  victorious 
achievement  of  character  that  will  forever  enshrine 
this  hero  in  the  child’s  heart  and  mind.  This  is 
the  kind  of  Lord  and  Master  he  will,  first  of  all, 
understand,  and  then  admire  and  follow.4 


4  Such  books  as  The  Jesus  of  History,  by  T.  R.  Glover;  A  Young  Man's  Jesus, 
by  Bruce  Barton;  and  The  Manliness  of  Christ,  by  Thomas  Hughes,  will  help  the 
.teacher  in  such  an  interpretation  of  Jesus. 


73 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


In  teaching  miracle  stories. — The  very  little 
child  accepts  the  miraculous  elements  in  life  with 
no  questions.  To  him  natural  and  supernatural  are 
alike  marvelous.  Just  because  the  Junior  has 
reached  the  age  when  he  is  interested  to  know  if 
things  are  true,  because  he  is  asking  “How  can  that 
be?”'  special  consideration  should  be  given  to  the 
way  in  which  stories  of  miraculous  content  are 
presented  to  him.  Since  he  is  more  concerned 
with  facts  than  with  fancies,  since  he  longs  to  come 
in  contact  with  things  which  are  primarily  real,  it 
is  probably  well  not  so  to  stress  the  miraculous 
element  during  the  Junior  period  as  to  leave  the 
impression  that  the  laws  which  God  has  made  for 
his  world  are  easily  set  aside.  The  Junior  is  old 
enough  to  understand  that  life  is  full  of  what  people 
have  called  miracles  in  the  sense  that  the  right 
thing  often  seems  to  happen  just  at  the  right  time, 
and  often  when  least  expected.  Such  opportune 
events  are  found  in  the  Bible  as  well  as  in  subsequent 
history.  The  arrival  of  the  American  soldiers  in 
Peking  at  the  time  of  the  Boxer  siege  was  an  occa¬ 
sion  for  thanksgiving  to  God.  It  may  be  well  for  Ju¬ 
niors  to  see  that  some  events  which  have  been  loosely 
termed  “miracles”  do  not  indicate  an  abrogation  of 
laws,  but  only  the  operation  of  established  laws  at 
the  moment  when  such  an  operation  is  most  needed. 

The  Junior  can  understand  too  that  life  holds 
some  miracles  which  no  one  has  yet  understood. 
Such  miracles  are  birth  and  death,  the  recurrence 
of  the  seasons,  and  whither  the  stars  are  moving 
in  their  rapid  flight  through  space.  A  short  extract 
from  God’s  Wonder  World  indicates  how  such  a 
sense  of  miracle  may  be  conveyed  to  children. 

74 


CURRICULUM  FOR  THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 


“To  this  immense  globe,  the  sun,  that  is  so  far 
away,  we  owe  all  our  light  and  heat.  ‘How  can  the 
light  and  heat  reach  us  when  they  come  so  great 
a  distance?’  you  ask. 

“Ah!  That  we  do  not  know.  It  is  still  a  mys¬ 
tery.  It  is  one  of  God’s  laws  that  we  have  not  yet 
discovered.”4 

The  selection  of  a  few  well-chosen  miracle  stories 
that  will  not  baffle  the  Junior’s  sense  of  reality  but 
which  suggest  the  possible  revelation  of  laws  not 
yet  understood,  may  pave  the  way  for  a  sympa¬ 
thetic  study  of  the  miraculous  in  later  years.  But 
such  stories  should  be  few  at  this  time.  It  might  be 
well  to  omit  all  stories  that  leave  the  impression 
that  God  arbitrarily  breaks  laws  of  his  own  making. 

In  teaching  the  Old  Testament. — Much  of  the 
Old-Testament  material  contains  ethical  standards 
which  are  not  operative  in  the  light  of  modern 
Christian  thought.  Some  of  the  heroes  indulged 
in  actions  which  our  young  people  are  taught  to 
condemn.  Unless  some  great  moral  truth  is  taught, 
such  stories  should  be  omitted.  Let  us  seek  and 
teach  the  constructive  elements  in  the  lives  of 
heroes.  There  is  also  much  that  is  gruesome  and 
bloody,  that  savors  of  hatred  of  enemies  and  the 
returning  of  evil  for  evil.  There  is  need  to  disso¬ 
ciate  the  heroic  and  adventurous  from  the  merely 
rough  and  uncivilized.  “Jehu’s  Bloody  Revolu¬ 
tion,”  and  others  like  it,  may  be  neglected  in  teach¬ 
ing  children  of  this  age. 

In  the  use  of  historical  material. — Unfortunately, 
much  of  the  material  from  biblical  history  has  been 


4  Cobb,  God’s  Wonder  World,  p.  31 1.  The  Beacon  Press. 

75 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


arranged  for  teaching  in  the  chronological  order. 
Students  of  the  child  mind  tell  us  that  children  of 
the  Junior  age  have  a  limited  historical  sense  in 
that  they  cannot  see  events  as  growing  out  of  each 
other.  They  do  not  comprehend  the  larger  move¬ 
ments  of  history  but  they  do  understand  the  men 
who  start  and  complete  things.  Not  until  the  close 
of  the  sixth  grade  in  the  public  schools  do  boys 
and  girls  take  any  interest  in  periods  of  history, 
in  successions  of  kings  and  presidents,  in  the  law 
of  cause  and  effect  in  its  operation  in  history.  For 
this  reason,  in  the  best  public  schools,  history  is 
taught  to  children  of  this  age  in  the  form  of  biog¬ 
raphy.  Through  the  lives  of  men  and  women  who 
represent  a  movement  or  a  period  they  gather  the 
spirit  of  that  age.  Later  on,  during  the  seventh 
and  eighth  grades,  they  begin  to  see  those  men  and 
women  against  the  background  of  the  historical 
events  of  their  day. 

Any  curriculum  which  stresses  the  biographical 
method  of  arrangement  in  presenting  Old-Testament 
characters  is  adapted  to  the  Junior’s  mental  capac¬ 
ity.  We  do  not  stress  the  outlines  of  Old-Testament 
history,  the  chronological  order  of  events,  but 
focus  our  attention  upon  the  vivid,  personal  charac¬ 
teristics  of  the  men  and  women  who  made  that 
history  so  great.  Often  the  chronological  arrange¬ 
ment  of  Bible  material  makes  necessary  the  inclusion 
of  some  stories  which,  by  all  our  standards  of  good 
curriculum  making,  are  not  appropriate  for  Junior 
children  and  have  no  great  teaching  value  for  them. 
Any  curriculum  based  on  chronological  arrangement 
should  have  the  emphasis  placed  upon  the  lives 
of  the  people,  not  on  the  order  of  events. 

76 


CURRICULUM  FOR  THE  JUNIOR  CHILD 


For  Further  Reading: 

Coe — A  Social  Theory  of  Religious  Education , 
Chapters  V,  VI,  IX. 

Betts,  George  Herbert — “A  Curriculum  of  Reli¬ 
gious  Education/’  Journal  of  Religious  Educa¬ 
tion ,  February,  1920. 

Betts,  George  Herbert — How  to  Teach  Religion , 
Chapters  IV  and  VII. 

Barbour — “What  to  Teach  Juniors,”  Journal  of 
Religious  Education ,  December,  1920. 


77 


CHAPTER  V 


AVAILABLE  MATERIALS  AND  HOW  TO 

ENRICH  THEM 

In  the  previous  chapter  we  have  suggested  the 
types  of  material  which  will  offer  fruitful  knowledge 
to  Junior  children.  Let  us  now  review  some  of 
the  best  existing  curriculum  material  for  Juniors. 
We  need  to  discover  how  we  may  enrich  our  present 
curriculum  so  that  it  will  contain  the  most  fruit¬ 
ful  subject  matter  available  for  the  lives  of  Junior 
Christians. 

EXISTING  CURRICULA  FOR  JUNIORS 

There  are  five  series  of  lessons  which  are  most 
commonly  used  in  the  church  schools.  In  addition 
to  these  there  are  a  few  separate  books  which  can 
be  used  in  Junior  classes  if  one  desires  to  depart 
from  a  regular  series.  Among  the  existing  cur¬ 
ricula  there  is  practically  nothing  of  the  type  of 
material  which  deals,  first  and  foremost,  with  the 
actual  living  problems  of  Junior  children.  Such 
curricula,  if  they  did  exist,  as  far  as  printed  form 
is  concerned,  would  be  more  in  the  nature  of  guides 
to  curriculum,  suggestions  as  to  how  to  stimulate 
pupil  activities,  attempts  to  point  out  to  teachers 
how  they  may  help  pupils  to  discover  their  own 
purposes  and  carry  them  out — rather  than  a  com¬ 
plete  printed  textbook  with  a  few  questions  attached 
at  the  end.  Because  this  ideal  curriculum  material 

78 


AVAILABLE  MATERIALS 


does  not  as  yet  exist,  we  shall  have  to  confine  our¬ 
selves  to  the  evaluation  of  the  material  now  ready 
for  use  and  to  judge  it  by  its  relative  approach  to 
the  more  vital  curriculum  standards. 

International  Lesson  Series. — There  are  four 
types  of  courses  prepared  by  the  International 
Lesson  Committee,  the  Uniform  Lessons,  the  Uni¬ 
form  Lessons  Adapted,  the  Departmental  Group 
Lessons,  and  the  Closely  Graded  Lessons. 

International  Uniform  Lessons.  These  lessons 
use  the  same  material  for  all  ages  and  the  same 
method  of  presentation.  For  these  reasons  they 
are  not  pedagogical  and  should  never  be  used  with 
children. 

International  Uniform  Lessons  Adapted.  The 
Uniform  Lessons  Adapted  use  the  same  lesson 
material  for  all  ages  but  adapt  the  method  of  pre¬ 
sentation  to  suit  the  different  ages.  It  is  perfectly 
evident  that  this  type  of  material  cannot,  from  the 
very  nature  of  the  case,  always  be  selected  with 
reference  to  the  actual  experiences  of  Junior  chil¬ 
dren,  and  no  adaptation  of  method  of  presentation 
can  possibly  bring  the  subject  matter  within  the 
child’s  own  experience. 

International  Group  Uniform  Series.  The  Depart¬ 
mental  Group  Lessons  come  nearer  to  meeting 
the  child’s  natural  interests  and  his  developing 
needs  in  that  the  material  for  Juniors  is  different 
from  that  taught  to  younger  or  older  groups.  Under 
this  system  all  the  children  in  the  Junior  Depart¬ 
ment  study  the  same  lesson  on  the  same  day.  The 
last  word  in  grading  and  in  curriculum  making  has 
not  been  said.  There  may  be  situations  in  which 
all  the  children  in  a  Junior  Department  are  so  nearly 

79 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


alike  in  their  intellectual,  emotional,  social,  and 
religious  development  that  the  same  lesson  ma¬ 
terial  is  adaptable  for  the  entire  group,  but  such 
occurrences  are  few.  So  there  is  need  of  lesson 
material  to  meet  the  different  stages  of  develop¬ 
ment  found  within  the  years  included  in  the  Junior 
group. 

International  Closely  Graded  Lessons.  The  Closely 
Graded  Lessons  provide  a  separate  course  of  study 
for  each  of  the  three  years  in  the  Junior  Depart¬ 
ment.  The  lessons  include  biblical  and  missionary 
material  and  are  grouped  in  courses  as  follows: 

First  Year.  Stories  From  the  Olden  Time: 

Stories  of  the  Beginnings. 

Stories  of  the  Patriarchs. 

Stories  of  Moses  and  His  Times. 

Parables  of  Jesus. 

Second  Year.  Hero  Stories: 

Stories  of  Everyday  Heroes. 

Stories  of  the  Hero  of  Heroes. 

Stories  of  Heroic  Followers  of  Jesus. 

Stories  of  Old  Testament  Heroes. 

Third  Year.  Kingdom  Stories: 

Stories  of  the  Kingdoms  of  Israel  and 
Judah. 

*» 

The  Exile  and  Return  of  the  People 
of  Judah. 

Introduction  to  New  Testament  Times 

In  this  series  the  child  receives  a  paper-covered 
notebook,  containing  daily  Bible  readings  with 
reference  to  the  lesson  for  the  following  Sunday. 

80 


AVAILABLE  MATERIALS 


There  are  questions  to  be  answered  in  writing  and 
spaces  for  the  pasting  of  pictures  to  illustrate  the 
lesson  story.  There  are  also  memory  selections. 
One  excellent  feature  of  this  course  is  that  appeal 
is  made  to  the  Junior’s  admiration  for  heroes;  the 
hero  idea  is  carried  throughout.  The  selection  of 
heroes  is  excellent  and  the  presentation  is  not  con¬ 
fined  to  any  chronological  order.  Specific  activities 
to  be  carried  out  are,  for  the  most  part,  included 
under  “Notebook  Work.”  There  are  relatively  few 
suggestions  made  to  the  child  of  life  activities  in 
which  he  may  engage  as  a  means  of  assimilating 
the  knowledge  gained  in  his  lesson  study. 

Far  the  larger  proportion  of  questions  asked 
him  are  of  the  knowledge-testing  type  rather  than 
thought-questions  which  lead  to  further  investiga¬ 
tion  of  truth  or  experimentation  with  life  itself. 
The  questions  in  the  teachers’  textbooks  come  nearer 
to  being  vital  questions;  but  here  also  they  are 
not  sufficiently  close  to  child  life.  Many  of  them 
are  too  vague;  they  do  not  deal  with  a  sufficient 
number  of  concrete  situations  of  the  kind  that  are 
apt  to  occur  in  the  life  of  almost  any  Junior. 
Neither  the  pupil’s  nor  the  teacher’s  books  are  as 
attractive  as  they  would  be  were  the  entire  course 
printed  in  one  book  instead  of  in  quarterly  install¬ 
ments  and  between  pasteboard  covers. 

Scribner’s  Completely  Graded  Series. — The  course 
for  Juniors  in  the  Scribner’s  Completely  Graded 
Series  is  called  “The  Junior  Bible.”  It  presents 
the  Bible  material  chronologically  from  the  early 
Hebrew  Heroes  down  through  the  life  and  work 
of  Paul.  The  course  for  each  year  in  the  Junior 
Department  is  as  follows: 

81 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


First  Year.  Early  Heroes  and  Heroines.  (From 

Abraham  to  David.) 

Second  Year.  Kings  and  Prophets  of  Judah  and 

Israel.  (From  Solomon  to  the 
Maccabees.) 

Third  Year.  The  Life  and  Words  of  Jesus. 

Fourth  Year.  Christian  Apostles  and  Missionaries. 

(Stories  of  Paul  and  the  early 
Christian  missionaries,  including 
the  teachings  of  Paul.) 

The  pupil  is  provided  with  a  notebook  contain¬ 
ing  the  Bible  text  for  each  lesson.  This  text  is  a 
translation  which  omits  parts  of  the  Bible  account 
which  are  unnecessary  for  the  meaning  of  the  story. 
There  are  with  each  lesson  questions  to  be  an¬ 
swered  and  subjects  to  be  discussed  or  debated. 
At  the  close  of  the  child’s  stay  in  the  Junior 
Department  he  has  a  Junior  Bible.  There  are  also 
maps  and  colored  pictures  to  be  pasted  in  to  illus¬ 
trate  each  lesson.  The  arrangement  of  material  is 
chronological  rather  than  biographical,  which  means 
that  the  Junior  is  obliged  to  cover  a  good  deal  of 
the  Bible  which  does  not  relate  very  closely  to  his 
particular  psychological  problems.  It  means  that 
the  teacher  is  teaching  Hebrew  history  to  children 
who  are  interested  not  in  historical  movements 
but  in  people.  To  be  sure,  the  people  are  there, 
but  some  of  them  could  quite  as  well  be  omitted, 
such  as  Jehu  and  his  bloody  revolution.  The  ma¬ 
terial  is  chosen  entirely  from  the  Bible,  allowing 
no  place  for  any  extra-biblical  material  except  as 
it  may  be  introduced  by  way  of  illustration.  It  is 

82 


AVAILABLE  MATERIALS 


planned  for  four  instead  of  three  years  in  a  Junior 
Department. 

Possibly  the  first  year,  on  “Early  Heroes  and 
Heroines,”  and  the  third  year,  on  “The  Life  and 
Words  of  Jesus,”  are  the  two  which  are  the  best 
adapted  for  use  with  Juniors.  No  attempt  is  made 
to  interpret  the  lesson  material  for  the  child  in  his 
book;  merely  the  Bible  text  is  given.  The  questions 
for  discussion  are  rather  better  than  in  some  texts; 
they  are  often  full  of  thought  content,  and  they 
aim  to  relate  to  child  experience.  They  suggest 
conduct  as  an  end  of  the  study.  They  are  not  all 
in  the  realm  of  the  intellect  but  touch  upon  living. 

The  expressional  work  is  largely  the  answering 
of  questions  in  writing  or  the  writing  of  other  assign¬ 
ments.  There  are  few  provisions  for  life  activities. 
The  teacher  receives  a  cloth-bound  book  with  ample 
helps  for  teaching  the  lessons.  The  appearance  of 
the  pupil’s  book  is  good,  though  not  bound  in 
cloth.  The  pictures  accompanying  the  course  vary; 
some  of  them  are  very  good  while  others  are  too 
highly  colored. 

Chicago  Constructive  Series. — This  series,  pub¬ 
lished  by  the  University  of  Chicago  Press,  contains 
the  following  courses: 

Grade  4.  An  Introduction  to  the  Books  of  the  Bible , 
Chamberlin. 

Grades  5-7.  The  Life  of  Jesus ,  Gates. 

Grades  5-7.  Heroes  of  Israel ,  Soares. 

Grades  5-7.  Old  Testament  Story ,  Corbett. 

Grades  5-7.  Paul  of  Tarsus ,  Atkinson. 

The  entire  course  shows  evidences  of  rich  scholar¬ 
ship,  and  this  makes  all  of  the  books  exceedingly 
helpful  as  reference  books  for  a  teacher  using  sim- 

83 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


ilar  courses  in  another  series.  In  several  cases  the 
informational  material  is  almost  too  abundant  and 
there  is  a  tendency  to  extend  the  courses  over  more 
time  and  to  cover  more  material  than  can  be  done 
and  at  the  same  time  hold  the  interest  of  Junior 
boys  and  girls. 

As  a  whole,  these  courses  are  rather  beyond  the 
ages  for  which  they  were  written.  Some  groups 
of  children  who  have  enjoyed  special  advantages 
can  use  them  successfully,  but  in  the  average  church- 
school  class  they  could  better  be  used  with  children 
a  little  older  than  the  ones  for  whom  they  were 
planned.  The  notebook  work  on  the  lives  of  Paul 
and  Jesus  is  very  monotonous,  in  that  the  story  is 
printed  with  blank  places  left  for  the  thought  to 
be  filled  in  in  writing  by  the  child.  To  do  this  week 
after  week  is  sheer  drudgery.  The  teacher  using 
these  courses  would  want  to  vary  the  expressional 
work  materially. 

One  outstanding  feature  of  these  courses  is  the 
attractive  way  in  which  they  are  gotten  up. 

Beacon  Course. — The  Beacon  Course,  at  present, 
offers  only  two  courses  for  Juniors: 

Heroic  Lives ,  Vail. 

God's  Wonder  World ,  Cobb. 

These  two  courses  reach  a  very  high  standard  in 
curriculum-making  in  many  respects.  They  are 
exceedingly  well  gotten  up  and  are  very  readable. 
Heroic  Lives ,  especially,  is  written  in  a  charming 
literary  style.  The  stories  in  this  book  are  well 
chosen  and  dramatically  told.  The  book  contains 
some  heroes  whom  the  average  Junior  teacher  might 
not  care  to  include  in  a  course.  The  heroes  of 
action  will  surely  appeal  to  the  Junior,  but  it  is 

84 


AVAILABLE  MATERIALS 


doubtful  whether  the  child  of  this  age  will  be  as 
interested  in  men  like  Confucius,  Buddha  or  Tagore 
as  they  will  a  little  later  w’hen  they  can  understand 
something  of  the  religious  and  philosophical  mes¬ 
sages  of  these  Oriental  prophets. 

There  are  critics  who  feel  that  the  book  is  not 
“sufficiently  religious,”  in  that  the  emphasis  of  the 
religious  point  of  view  is  noticeably  lacking.  Others 
feel  that  one  may  find  in  it  deep  religious  values. 
As  a  source  book  for  any  teacher  who  wants 
illustrative  or  story  material  and  as  a  source  book 
for  worship  stories  Heroic  Lives  will  be  of  inesti¬ 
mable  value.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  God's 
Wonder  World.  It  provides  one  of  the  very  few 
source  books  for  the  church  school  teacher  who 
wants  to  teach  Juniors  that  God  speaks  in  terms 
of  natural  law.  Any  Junior  teacher  can  turn  its 
pages  occasionally  and  find  some  nature  lesson 
which  will  nourish  the  reverence  and  wonder  of 
the  child  in  the  presence  of  God’s  “wonder  world.” 

Christian  Nurture  Series. — The  Christian  Nurture 
Series  is  the  series  used  in  the  Episcopal  Church 
schools  and  in  one  or  two  respects  makes  a  distinct 
contribution  to  curriculum  making.  The  courses 
for  the  Junior  years  are: 

Ages  9-10.  God’s  Great  Family. 

Ages  io-ii.  The  Christian  Seasons. 

Ages  11-12.  Church  Worship  and  Membership. 

The  entire  Christian  Nurture  Series  centers  in 
what  is  called  the  “Five  Fold  Plan.”  The  Curric¬ 
ulum  contains  not  informational  material  alone,  but 
is  thought  of  as  covering  four  other  elements,  mem¬ 
ory  work,  training  in  church  loyalty,  training  in 
the  devotional  life  and  training  in  Christian  service. 

85 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


It  is  almost  the  only  church-school  curriculum  at 
present  which  thinks  of  everything  which  touches 
the  fourfold  life  of  the  child  as  material  for  study. 
Service  activities  are  not  left  to  the  option  of  teachers 
or  school  officers;  they  are  definitely  planned  for 
and  taught  as  a  part  of  the  curriculum.  Attendance 
at  church  services  and  participation  in  church 
activities  become  matters  of  definite  teaching  in 
every  Sunday  lesson.  Training  in  systematic  giv¬ 
ing,  including  instruction  in  the  causes  for  which 
the  gifts  are  offered,  is  a  part  of  each  year’s 
curriculum. 

While  other  church  boards  desire  all  these  things 
and  send  out  literature  emphasizing  them,  the 
Episcopal  Board  says,  “These  matters  of  giving, 
serving,  worshiping  are  just  as  much  material  for 
the  year’s  course  of  training  as  the  study  of  the 
Bible  and  of  missions.  We  will  weave  them  all  in 
together.” 

The  course  also  makes  a  place  for  some  of  the 
most  effective  methods  of  teaching.  It  encourages 
the  “class  treasury,”  so  that  all  young  people  may 
have  some  choice  in  the  matter  of  the  causes  to 
which  their  money  shall  go.  Another  good  feature 
is  the  monthly  letter  sent  to  all  parents  explaining 
to  them  the  work  of  the  month  and  definitely  show¬ 
ing  how  they  may  help  the  child  with  his  lessons. 

The  courses  are  bound  in  paper  covers  and  are 
not  very  durable.  Some  of  the  expressional  work 
could  be  improved  and  especially  the  appearance 
of  the  pupil’s  notebook  material.  The  content  in 
all  three  courses  for  the  Junior  age  involves  much 
that  lies  outside  the  psychological  interests  of  the 
child  of  this  age. 


86 


AVAILABLE  MATERIALS 


Any  Junior  teacher  would  be  helped  by  looking 
over  this  course  to  see  how  training  in  worship, 
service,  and  church  loyalty  may  be  made  an  integral 
part  of  the  year’s  course  of  study. 

The  Abingdon  Religious  Education  Texts. — The 
Abingdon  Religious  Education  Texts  are  the  latest 
to  enter  the  field.  There  are  now  in  this  series  a 
number  of  texts  ready  for  use  with  Juniors  and 
still  others  are  in  process  of  preparation.  The 
Junior-age  textbooks  include: 

The  Rules  of  the  Game ,  Lambertson. 

Stories  from  all  over  the  world,  including  some 
Bible  stories,  of  people  who  played  the  game 
of  life  and  kept  the  rules. 

Followers  of  the  Marked  Trail ,  Frayser. 

Bible  stories  vividly  retold  for  Juniors. 

A  Travel  Book  for  Juniors ,  Hanson. 

The  account  of  a  Junior  boy  who  traveled 
through  Palestine  with  his  father. 

In  many  ways  these  texts  fill  a  long-felt  need  for 
workers  with  Juniors.  They  offer  biography  of 
Bible  heroes  and  of  others,  biography  written  in 
a  vivid,  forceful  style.  The  stories  are  so  chosen 
and  so  told  that  they  relate  closely  to  the  average 
Junior’s  everyday  experiences.  The  book  on  Pal¬ 
estine  makes  it  possible  to  teach  the  geography  of 
the  Holy  Land  in  story  form,  and  offers,  ready  to 
place  in  the  hands  of  boys  and  girls,  geographical 
material  which  hitherto  the  teacher  himself  has  had 
to  compile  and  adapt. 

The  texts  are  attractively  and  well  bound,  printed 
on  good  paper  and  in  large,  clear  type.  The  illus¬ 
trations  are  well  chosen.  They  meet  the  age  inter¬ 
ests  and  capacities  of  Juniors. 

87 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Teachers’  manuals  are  provided  which  are  rich 
in  suggestions  of  activity  within  and  without 
the  classroom.  Miss  Frayser’s  teacher’s  manual 
especially  attempts  to  suggest  projects  and  life 
activities  upon  which  boys  and  girls  may  work. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  so  excellent  a  series  will  pro¬ 
vide,  before  its  completion,  some  courses  for  Juniors 
which  will  start  with  the  child’s  own  experiences, 
making  the  informational  material  something  to 
be  sought  after  as  a  help  in  the  carrying  out  of  his 
project,  instead  of  always  using  it  as  the  first  means 
of  approach. 

Other  courses. — There  is  one  other  group  of 
possible  courses  which  ought  to  be  mentioned  in 
a  discussion  of  available  materials  for  Juniors.  This 
includes  a  number  of  scattered  and  separate  text¬ 
books,  not  published  in  any  series  or  by  any  par¬ 
ticular  church-school  board.  First  of  all,  among 
these,  mention  should  be  made  of  some  of  the  books 
published  by  the  Missionary  Education  Movement, 
such  as  Giovanni ,  a  Boy  of  Italy ,  by  Ferris;  Liv¬ 
ingstone  Hero  Stories ,  by  Mendenhall;  or  African 
Adventurers ,  by  Jean  McKenzie.  These  books  are 
all  well  written  and  convey  in  vivid  story  form  the 
essential  Christian  spirit.  An  increasing  number 
of  Junior  Departments  are  introducing  such  short- 
period  courses  at  some  point  in  the  Junior  curric¬ 
ulum.  Sometimes  it  is  of  value  to  get  away  from 
the  more  stereotyped  textbooks  and  to  offer  chil¬ 
dren  a  “real  book.”  Such  a  book  as  The  Boy's 
Life  of  Christ ,  by  Forbush,  although  it  has  ped¬ 
agogical  faults,  does  tell  the  story  of  Jesus  in  a 
vivid,  narrative  style  and  reveals  him  as  a  hero 
whom  every  boy  and  girl  can  love  and  admire. 

88 


AVAILABLE  MATERIALS 


ENRICHING  THE  PRESENT  CURRICULUM 

If  there  are  great  reaches  of  appreciation,  if 
there  is  a  wealth  of  spiritual  enjoyment  in  ma¬ 
terial  not  included  in  the  course  which  we  are  teach¬ 
ing,  how  are  we  to  avail  ourselves  of  these  treasures 
that  we  may  give  them  to  our  boys  and  girls?  What 
are  we  going  to  do  about  it? 

Use  corresponding  materials  in  other  series.— 
Every  teacher  should  make  himself  familiar  with 
the  best  courses  in  other  series  which  correspond 
with  his  own.  If  he  is  teaching  Stories  From  the 
Olden  Time  to  first-year  Juniors,  he  ought  to  have 
the  Scribner  Junior  Bible  for  first-year  Juniors, 
Early  Heroes  and  Heroines .  If  he  is  teaching 
Stories  of  the  Hero  of  Heroes  to  second-year  Juniors, 
he  ought  to  know  Gates’  Life  of  Jesus  in  the  Con¬ 
structive  Series  and  the  Junior  Bible  course  on 
Life  and  Words  of  Jesus.  The  teacher’s  bookshelf, 
either  his  own  or  the  church-school  library,  should 
hold  these  corresponding  courses,  so  that  he  may 
get  as  many  teaching  points  of  view  as  possible 
of  his  material. 

Omit  lessons  containing  unfruitful  material. — 

Even  the  very  best  of  study  courses  usually  need 
to  be  shortened,  not  because  the  material  in  them 
is  not  well  selected,  but  because,  if  a  teacher  uses 
each  of  the  fifty-two  prepared  lessons,  it  will  take 
all  of  the  fifty-two  Sundays  in  the  year  and  leave 
no  time  in  which  to  follow  up  real  interests  that 
develop  in  his  class.  Several  Sundays  should  be 
taken  for  the  teaching  of  lessons  which  grow  out 
of  the  pupil’s  own  interests  and  particular  needs. 
If  the  teacher  pauses  to  do  this,  untaught  lessons 
pile  up  and  he  becomes  embarrassed. 

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JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Sometimes  a  course  of  study  contains  a  few 
lessons  which  are  not  well  suited  to  a  particular 
group  of  Juniors.  These  should  be  omitted  and 
more  fruitful  material  introduced.  A  class  of 
Juniors  may  know  the  Joseph  story  so  well  that 
only  brief  mention  need  be  made  of  it,  while  time 
is  gained  for  some  less  known  hero.  There  is  one 
caution  we  must  bear  in  mind.  We  must  be  sure 
that  what  we  substitute  is  better  than  that  which 
is  omitted.  The  teacher  must  not  follow  just  his 
own  whims  in  the  matter  of  selection,  but  must 
base  his  selection  on  a  well-thought-out  program 
for  the  year’s  study. 

Enrich  the  teacher’s  background. — But  every 
teacher  needs  more  than  a  familiarity  with  other 
teaching  courses.  His  lesson  material  must  be 
continually  refreshened  in  his  thinking,  and  this 
can  best  be  done  by  the  reading  of  books  which 
will  illuminate  it  for  him.  Only  as  he  reads  and 
steeps  himself  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  course  he  is 
teaching  will  the  course  become  a  vivid,  glowing 
thing  to  the  child.  What  teacher  will  not  make 
his  class  feel  that  they  are  walking  over  the  hills 
with  Jesus  if  he  comes  to  the  teaching  of  Jesus’ 
life  fresh  from  a  reading  of  A  Pilgrim  in  Palestine , 
by  John  Finley?  Mr.  Finley  had  the  privilege  of 
being  the  first  traveler  to  walk  the  length  of  the 
Holy  Land  after  the  World  War.  His  book  is 
dedicated  to  “her  who  made  Palestine  the  nearest 
other  country  of  my  boyhood.”  Was  it  his  mother 
or  a  Sunday-school  teacher?  He  does  not  say; 
but  what  teacher  would  not  like  to  feel  that  he 
could  do  that  for  a  group  of  boys  and  girls? 

Appended  to  this  chapter  is  a  list  of  books  which 

90 


AVAILABLE  MATERIALS 


may  be  of  help  in  enriching  the  thought  background 
of  the  Junior  teacher.  All  of  these  books  are  very 
readable,  not  of  such  a  character  that  the  teacher 
need  to  drive  himself  to  the  study  of  them,  but  such 
books  as  will,  in  a  delightful  manner,  make  his 
subject  matter  vivid. 

SOME  BOOKS  FOR  THE  TEACHER  TO  READ 
On  Palestine 

Finley — A  Pilgrim  in  Palestine. 

Van  Dyke — Out  of  Doors  in  the  Holy  Land. 

Wild — Geographic  Influences  in  Old  Testament 
Masterpieces. 

Crosby — Geography  of  Bible  Lands. 

Hanson — A  Travel  Book  for  Juniors. 

How  We  Got  Our  Bible 

Hunting — The  Story  of  Our  Bible  (Teacher’s 
edition  and  also  an  attractive  illustrated 
edition). 

Chamberlin — Introduction  to  the  Bible  for  Teachers 
of  Children. 

On  the  Old  Testament 

Knott — Students’  History  of  the  Hebrews. 
Rogers— Great  Characters  of  the  Old  Testament. 
Houghton — Telling  Bible  Stories  to  Children. 

On  the  New  Testament 

Glover — The  Jesus  of  History. 

Barton — A  Young  Man’s  Jesus. 

Hayes — Great  Characters  of  the  New  Testament. 

Bird — Paul  of  Tarsus. 

Clark — In  the  Footsteps  of  St.  Paul. 

9i 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


The  Use  of  Art  in  the  Junior  Department 

Bailey — The  Use  of  Art  in  Religious  Education. 
Beard — Pictures  in  Religious  Education. 

Vogt,  Von  Ogden — Art  and  Religion. 

For  Further  Reading : 

Betts — How  to  Teach  Religion ,  Chapter  VII,  “The 
Subject  Matter.” 

Jones — “The  Junior  and  Out  of  Doors,”  Church 
School ,  July,  1922. 

Bailey — The  Use  of  Art  in  Religious  Education , 
Chapter  IV,  “Pictures  and  Children,”  and 
Chapter  V,  “Pictures  for  Juniors.” 


92 


CHAPTER  VI 


THE  ART  OF  TEACHING  JUNIORS 

What  does  it  mean,  “to  teach”  another?  It 
may  mean  little  or  much.  It  may  mean  to  forget 
self  in  the  effort  to  plumb  the  depths  of  person¬ 
ality,  to  enter  into  a  prompt  and  sympathetic 
understanding  of  each  young  life  in  the  schoolroom 
and  of  the  world  of  which  he  is  a  part,  to  help  these 
young  lives  to  realize  their  utmost  possibilities.  Or 
it  may  mean  going  through  classroom  routine  day 
after  day,  perfunctorily  passing  from  one  text  to 
another  with  the  ringing  of  the  bells,  dutifully 
observing  all  of  the  devices  insisted  upon  by  the 
normal  school,  with  mind  and  heart  leaping  at  the 
sound  of  the  closing  bell.  If  “to  teach”  means  the 
first  of  these  things,  it  must  mean,  also,  the  dedi¬ 
cation  of  self  each  day  to  the  discovery  of  ever 
finer,  surer,  and  more  delicate  ways  of  leading  youth 
to  its  full  self-realization. 

THE  TRAINED  TEACHER 

The  teacher  who  would  understand  the  art  of 
teaching  Juniors  must  begin  with  himself,  for 
training  is  at  the  basis  of  the  art  of  teaching.  There 
are  those  in  whom  the  motive  for  teaching  is  surer 
than  in  others,  but  all  are  under  the  necessity  of 
knowing  how  it  may  best  be  done.  Such  training 
involves  a  knowledge  of  the  subject  matter,  a 
knowledge  of  the  child,  and  an  understanding  of 

93 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


the  methods  of  teaching.  It  also  involves  a  love 
of  the  child  to  be  taught  as  well  as  enthusiasm  for 
the  subject  matter. 

The  Junior  teacher  needs  to  enlist  in  training 
courses  on  the  Bible,  on  psychology  and  pupil 
study,  and  on  teaching  methods. 

PREPARATION  FOR  THE  LESSON 

The  art  of  teaching  depends  not  only  upon  the 
training  of  the  teacher,  but  also  upon  adequate 
preparation  for  the  lesson  by  both  teacher  and 
pupil.  There  is  no  substitute  for  lack  of  preparation 
on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  However  gifted  one 
may  be  with  natural  ability  to  teach,  this  inborn 
gift  will  not  enable  one  to  teach  unfamiliar  material 
to  children  who  are  unknown  quantities.  There  is 
also  the  need  of  preparation  on  the  part  of  the 
pupil  and  of  the  motivation  of  the  pupil  by  the 
teacher  for  the  lesson  which  is  to  be  taught. 

The  teacher’s  preparation. — Enough  has  been  said 
to  indicate  what  kind  of  preparation  a  teacher  needs. 
The  conscientious  teacher  knows  whether  or  not 
he  has  gone  to  meet  his  class  fully  prepared  for 
the  teaching  of  the  lesson.  When  the  teacher  is 
fully  prepared  he  can  keep  before  him  the  great 
message  of  the  lesson  and  the  needs  of  each  indi¬ 
vidual  child,  so  that  “power  comes  upon  him”  to 
master  questions  of  discipline,  to  maintain  the 
interest  of  the  group,  and  to  do  all  the  thousand 
and  one  things  involved  in  the  teaching  of  a  lesson. 

Preparation  by  the  pupil. — Perhaps  the  most 
difficult  problem  which  confronts  the  church-school 
teacher  is  the  one  of  securing  “home  study”  of 
the  lesson.  At  innumerable  teachers’  meetings  this 

94 


THE  ART  OF  TEACHING  JUNIORS 

perplexing  matter  has  been  discussed  and  ways  of 
solving  the  problem  suggested. 

Like  most  problems,  there  is  need  to  probe  deep 
and  to  ask,  “Why  do  the  children  not  study?” 
Parents  and  teachers  will  give  a  number  of  answers 
to  this  question.  “The  children  have  so  much 
school  work  that  there  is  no  time  to  study  the 
church-school  lesson.”  “The  boys  and  girls  do  not 
like  to  have  church  school  just  like  the  day  school.” 
“The  church-school  lesson  is  too  difficult;  they  do 
not  understand  it.”  “They  are  not  interested  in 
the  church-school  lessons.”  These  and  many  other 
replies  are  given,  some  of  them  more  nearly  true 
than  others.  Probably  the  truest  reply  would  be, 
“Children  do  not  study  because  they  do  not  want 
to  and  there  is  no  authority  in  the  church  school 
which  can  compel  study.”  If  this  is  true,  what 
secret  can  secure  the  willing  and  interested  study 
of  the  lesson  by  Junior  pupils? 

There  are,  perhaps,  several  secrets  of  securing 
pupil  preparation.  We  might  begin  by  asking 
ourselves,  “Why  should  the  children  want  to  study 
this  particular  course?”  “What  is  there  in  it  that 
makes  it  interesting  to  the  child?”  “Does  it  so 
meet  the  Junior’s  present  problems  that  he  antic¬ 
ipates  the  study  of  it  and  feels  it  to  be  worth  while?” 
In  other  words,  can  we  not  so  plan  the  lessons 
that  the  child  will  have  a  motive  for  wanting  to 
know  their  contents? 

We  have  done  all  too  little  about  this  matter  of 
motivating  the  study  of  children.  We  have  given 
gold  stars  and  other  symbols  of  success  for  work 
faithfully  done,  but  there  inevitably  comes  the 
time  when  the  gold  star  fails  to  arouse  enthusiasm 

95 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


for  the  task,  and  then  to  what  expedient  shall  we 
resort?  Does  interest  in  getting  a  star  really  beget 
interest  in  the  lesson?  Besides,  we  know,  from  our 
mature  experience  that  we  gain  a  great  deal  more 
from  the  study  of  a  subject  when,  for  some  reason, 
we  are  filled  with  a  great  desire  to  blow  about  it. 
If  we  have  a  reason  for  wanting  to  know,  study 
becomes  a  pleasure  and  we  are  willing  to  make  a 
place  for  it  among  any  number  of  other  interests. 

This  also  helps  to  solve  the  problem  of  finding 
time  for  the  study  of  the  church-school  lesson. 
We  find  the  time  for  the  things  which  interest  us 
most.  If  we  can  be  sure  that  the  Junior  is  study¬ 
ing  what  he  most  needs  and  what  he  recognizes  as 
being  of  great  interest  and  of  real  worth,  and  if 
we  can  lead  him  to  feel  that  he  has  a  reason  for 
wanting  to  study,  we  shall  have  gone  a  long  way 
toward  solving  this  problem  of  the  pupil’s  prep¬ 
aration. 

Furthermore,  it  is  not  surprising  that  Juniors 
find  it  difficult  to  remember  the  assignment  or  to 
maintain  a  sustained  interest  in  the  lesson  when  a 
whole  week  has  intervened  between  Sundays — a 
week  crowded  full  of  many  interests  not  particularly 
related  to  his  church-school  work.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  a  child  under  twelve  years  of  age  can 
really  study  a  lesson  profitably  under  such  condi¬ 
tions.  Can  he  recall  the  situation  in  the  last  lesson 
sufficiently  well  to  study  this  lesson  as  it  should 
be  studied?  If  there  is  little  or  no  connection  be¬ 
tween  the  lessons,  is  he  able  to  study  an  absolutely 
new  mass  of  material  and,  unaided,  grasp  its  sig¬ 
nificance? 

Probably  the  best  method  to  secure  pupil  study 

96 


THE  ART  OF  TEACHING  JUNIORS 


is  to  supervise  it,  see  that  it  is  done  in  the  church- 
school  period  under  the  supervision  of  the  teacher. 
This  plan  means  that  the  Junior  will  have  no  “home 
work”  for  which  he  has  not  been  prepared.  This 
plan,  if  carried  out,  will  ease  the  burden  of  the 
Junior  teacher  and  will  secure  better  results  in  the 
end.  We  shall  see  in  the  next  chapter  how  such 
supervision  may  be  carried  out. 

SECURING  PARTICIPATION  BY  THE  GROUP 

But  the  art  of  teaching  is,  after  all,  not  so  much 
the  art  of  doing  something  oneself  as  the  art  of 
getting  the  pupils  to  act.  When  real  teaching  is 
taking  place,  it  is  not  the  teacher  alone  who  is 
working.  We  sometimes  forget  this  in  our  frantic 
efforts  to  instruct  the  boys  and  girls.  It  is  only 
when  every  member  of  the  group  is  actively  par¬ 
ticipating  in  the  work  of  the  classroom  that  teach¬ 
ing  can  be  said  to  have  reached  its  highest  possi¬ 
bilities.  If  there  is  no  real  learning  without  activity, 
then  it  follows  that  he  is  not  teaching  who  has  not 
secured  the  active  participation  of  the  members 
of  his  class.  How  may  the  teacher  of  Juniors 
make  sure  that  every  Junior  boy  and  girl  will  par¬ 
ticipate  in  the  activities  of  the  lesson  period? 

Through  finding  the  point  of  contact. — One  of  the 
greatest  secrets  of  teaching  is  that  of  getting  the 
interest  of  the  pupils  at  the  very  outset  of  the 
lesson.  A  good  beginning  is  the  best  guarantee  of 
a  good  ending.  The  Junior  teacher  should  always 
know  beforehand  how  he  is  going  to  begin  his  lesson. 
He  may  well  spend  a  good  share  of  the  time  given 
to  preparation  in  deciding  which  of  many  possible 
ways  he  shall  choose. 


97 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Just  because  Palestine  is  far  away,  and  because 
the  years  intervene  between  us  and  the  days  of 
David  or  Hosea,  there  is  the  necessity  of  discover¬ 
ing  something  in  the  Junior’s  own  experience  which 
is  akin  to  the  material  which  we  are  presenting. 
We,  as  teachers,  must  be  so  close  to  the  child’s 
experience  that  we  can  find  the  point  of  contact 
between  him  and  the  new  truth  we  wish  to  present. 

One  Sunday  a  teacher  of  Juniors  was  planning 
to  teach  the  lesson  on  Jesus  and  the  disciples  with¬ 
drawing  to  Mount  Hermon,  before  their  last  trip 
to  Jerusalem.  Two  boys  in  the  class  had  been 
climbing  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  the  summer 
before.  All  of  them  were  more  or  less  familiar 
with  mountain-climbing  through  books  and  the 
moving  picture.  All  of  them  loved  the  idea  of 
risk  and  danger.  When  they  learned  of  the  eternal 
snows  upon  Mount  Hermon,  of  the  dangers  of  climb¬ 
ing  it  even  to-day,  they  were  prepared  to  listen 
with  a  new  interest  to  the  story  of  this  man  who 
loved  the  out  of  doors  and  even  its  risks. 

Sometimes  an  introductory  story  will  provide  the 
point  of  contact.  Everyone  loves  a  good  story. 
A  teacher  of  second-year  Junior  girls  came  to  the 
department  superintendent  near  the  beginning  of 
the  year  and  asked  for  the  names  of  some  good 
collections  of  stories  with  an  ethical  significance. 
She  liked,  she  said,  to  start  her  lessons  at  times 
with  a  story  closely  related  to  the  everyday  lives 
of  her  girls  to  secure  their  interest  in  the  problem. 

Through  interest. — And  why  talk  about  “getting 
the  child’s  interest?”  Every  child  is  interested, 
intensely  interested,  in  what  concerns  him.  His 
interest  is  there  if  the  lesson  meets  it.  It  often 

98 


THE  ART  OF  TEACHING  JUNIORS 


seems  as  though  the  key  to  the  entire  teaching 
process  lay  in  this  one  word  “interest.”  We  seek 
to  interest  the  child  that  we  may  secure  his  par¬ 
ticipation;  we  provide  him  with  an  outlet  for  his 
activity  that  we  may  keep  his  interest. 

While  the  fundamental  secret  of  holding  the 
attention  is  to  teach  within  the  range  of  the  child’s 
real  interests,  there  are  various  devices  which  may 
be  used  to  sustain  a  lagging  interest  or  to  recall 
a  wandering  attention.  One  of  these  is  the  pro¬ 
vision  for  variety.  The  Junior  cannot  hold  his 
attention  to  any  one  thing  for  a  very  long  period 
of  time.  A  sudden  change  in  the  method  of  teach¬ 
ing  in  the  middle  of  the  class  period  will  often  act 
like  a  revivifying  breeze.  And  variety  in  the  manner 
of  teaching  from  Sunday  to  Sunday  will  hold  the 
loyalty  and  interest  of  the  Junior  to  his  work.  How 
monotonous  it  must  be  to  know  with  certainty  that 
the  same  things  are  going  to  happen  in  just  the 
same  way  Sunday  after  Sunday!  Life,  real  life,  is 
vastly  more  changing,  and  therefore  more  inter¬ 
esting,  than  that.  Why  not  make  the  classroom 
period  a  piece  of  real  life? 

In  the  past  we  have  used  the  competitive  impulse 
to  maintain  the  attention  of  the  children.  Undoubt¬ 
edly,  the  competition  between  individual  students 
has  been  overworked.  We  are  coming  to  see  that 
there  are  values  to  be  gained  from  a  cooperative 
study  of  the  lesson  in  which  we  all  work  together, 
teacher  and  pupils,  to  discover  the  truth,  each  one 
eager  to  share  any  personal  discoveries  with  all 
the  others,  not  that  he  may  shine  in  comparison 
with  their  dullness,  but  that  we  all  together  may 
be  farther  along  the  way  toward  truth. 

99 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


However,  individual  Juniors  or  groups  of  them 
can  discover  the  pleasure  in  competing  with  their 
own  past  records.  To  seek  to  surpass  one’s  own 
previous  records  of  efficiency  is  a  worthy  ambition. 
To  try  to  be  more  prompt  and  more  regular  in 
attendance  than  one  has  ever  been  before,  for  a 
whole  class  to  pride  itself  upon  having  its  work 
done  more  carefully,  more  neatly,  more  regularly 
than  in  the  past,  for  a  group  of  Juniors  to  strive 
with  real  effort  always  to  be  cheerful,  loyal,  quiet, 
and  industrious  members  of  the  Junior  Depart¬ 
ment — all  of  these  efforts  deserve  the  reward  of  com¬ 
mendation.  Appreciation  of  such  competitions  with 
oneself  should  be  freely  granted  to  Junior  children, 
for  such  praise  stimulates  further  interested  endeavor. 

The  greatest  secret  of  holding  the  Junior’s  inter¬ 
est  is  undoubtedly  to  discover  the  activities  which 
he  enjoys  and  to  see  that  he  has  the  chance  to  learn 
through  these  activities.  To  allow  children  to  have 
some  initiative  in  the  choice  of  subject  matter  and 
of  those  projects  in  learning  which  appeal  to  them 
will  help  to  supply  that  type  of  attention  which 
every  teacher  covets. 

Then  there  is  the  secret  of  maintaining  a  happy 
balance  between  a  sense  of  working  on  something 
which  is  difficult  enough  to  demand  our  highest 
powers  and  the  sense  of  victory  over  a  difficult  task. 
Study  should  be  hard  enough  to  call  for  stim¬ 
ulating  effort,  but  easy  enough  to  allow  for  accom¬ 
plishment.  Any  child  will  tire  of  studying  if  after 
his  effort  he  has  a  sense  of  defeat.  But,  if  he  feels 
that  he  is  mastering  the  material,  then  his  interest 
will  grow.  This  is  one  of  the  advantages  gained 
from  supervision  of  the  study  of  children. 

ioo 


THE  ART  OF  TEACHING  JUNIORS 


Last  of  all,  interest  is  contagious.  The  teacher 
who  is  not  vitally  interested  cannot  hope  to  interest 
his  Juniors.  The  Junior  teacher  who  reported  in 
a  weary  tone  that  her  girls  simply  “are  not  inter¬ 
ested  in  their  notebook  work”  was  surprised,  after 
an  absence  of  two  months,  during  which  time  her 
class  was  taught  by  another  teacher,  to  find  those 
same  notebooks  filled  up  with  interesting  and  well- 
written  material.  It  had  been  done  by  an  “inter¬ 
ested”  group  of  girls  under  the  inspiration  of  an 
“interested”  teacher. 

Through  variety. — We  have  seen  that  we  must 
have  variety  in  our  teaching  methods,  if  we  hope 
to  interest  youth.  Some  children  will  respond  to 
one  kind  of  activity,  some  to  another.  A  varied 
program  means  that  every  type  of  child  is  being 
considered  and  will  have  an  opportunity  to  express 
his  latent  powers. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  vary  the  method  or  the  tools 
used  in  teaching  a  lesson.  Sometimes  the  teacher 
may  tell  the  lesson  story.  At  other  times  it  may 
be  told  by  the  class  members.  Occasionally,  for 
the  sake  of  illustrating  the  value  of  cooperation,  each 
child  may  be  assigned  one  section  of  the  lesson  to 
be  told  as  a  sort  of  continued  story. 

The  appeal  to  the  eye-gate  through  pictures, 
posters,  and  the  stereoscope  will  afford  many  a 
delightful  lesson  hour.  Plastecine  is  a  tool  with 
which  some  lessons  may  be  well  taught. 

Dramatization  of  the  lesson  story  will  often  make  its 
truth  grip  the  imagination  vividly.  There  are  different 
possibilities  in  the  use  of  the  dramatic  method.  It 
need  not  necessarily  imply  elaborate  preparation, 
but  may  often  be  done  with  no  preparation  at  all. 

IOI 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


The  dramatic  interest  can  also  be  used  in  assign¬ 
ments  for  home  study.  The  following  is  an  illus¬ 
tration  of  its  possibilities.  A  class  of  third-year 
Junior  girls  were  studying  the  life  of  Christ.  The 
assignment  one  Sunday  was  this:  “Imagine  that 
you  are  a  girl  living  in  Capernaum  at  the  time  when 
Jesus  was  living  there.  Write  a  letter  to  a  girl 
friend  in  Jerusalem,  telling  her  about  the  first  time 
that  you  saw  Jesus. ” 

All  of  the  letters  were  good.  Most  of  them  indi¬ 
cated  sympathetic  understanding  of  the  real  per¬ 
sonality  of  Jesus.  One  little  girl  handed  in  the 
following  simple  interpretation  of  Jesus’  character. 

Capernaum, 

15  Nizan. 

My  dear  Tirzah: 

The  other  day  I  saw  the  Christ  for  the  first  time.  He 
was  out  on  the  hillside  near  the  lake  and  he  is  not  like 
what  you  would  expect  him  to  be.  He  is  much  like  any 
other  man  except  that  he  has  such  a  gentle  look  in  his 
eyes.  He  has  cured  my  brother  John  who  has  been  lame 
for  years.  I  can  hear  his  happy  shouts  now  as  he  plays 
with  the  other  children.  Jesus  has  some  men  who  go 
everywhere  with  him.  He  calls  them  his  brothers.  He 
says  we  are  all  brothers. 

Well,  Tirzah,  my  father  and  brother  are  going  to 
Jerusalem  this  week  and  they  will  tell  you  more  about 
the  Christ. 

Your  loving  friend 

Mary. 

Through  activity. — In  one  sense  participation 
means  activity.  Projects  that  involve  physical  activity 
and  that  require  cooperative  effort  are  a  challenge  to 
the  interest  and  participation  of  the  entire  group. 
The  whole  question  of  the  place  of  activity  in  the 

102 


STUDYING  WITH  THE  STEREOSCOPE 
A  Junior  Department  Group  Meeting  on  a  Week  Day 


. 


. 


THE  ART  OF  TEACHING  JUNIORS 


Junior-Department  program  will  be  taken  up  in 
later  chapters.1 

MAKING  THE  LESSON  VIVID  AND  VITAL 

All  of  the  methods  listed  above  are  just  so  many 
ways  of  making  the  lesson  vivid.  Any  plan  that 
finds  the  point  of  contact  between  the  child  and 
the  lesson,  which  enlists  his  interest  at  the  start 
and  holds  it  all  through,  which  introduces  variety 
into  the  teaching  of  the  lesson  and  which  utilizes 
all  of  the  child’s  active  powers,  is  a  plan  which 
makes  for  vividness  of  impression.  Vividness  of 
presentation  comes  from  feeling  the  lesson  deeply, 
from  seeing  it  as  clearly  as  though  one  had  been 
an  eyewitness  and  from  the  ability  to  put  oneself 
into  the  child’s  point  of  view  so  that  one  may  know 
just  how  to  transfer  the  picture  and  the  feeling 
from  one’s  own  experience  to  his. 

TESTING  RESULTS  OF  TEACHING 

Within  a  few  years  we  shall  in  all  probability 
know  a  great  deal  more  than  we  now  do  about 
testing  the  religious  reactions  of  children.  Most 
of  our  estimates  of  the  success  or  nonsuccess  of  our 
teaching  methods  heretofore  have  been  too  super¬ 
ficial.  Yet  there  are  a  few  tests  which  every  teacher 
may  and  should  apply  to  his  teaching  process  from 
time  to  time,  in  order  to  see  whether  or  not  it 
is  measuring  up  to  his  own  standards  of  usefulness. 

Attention. — Attention  is  a  much-worn  word  in 
pedagogical  circles,  but  it  represents  a  factor  to  be 
recognized  and  dealt  with.  It  requires  no  special 
skill  for  a  teacher  of  Juniors  to  know  whether  or 


1  See  Chapters  14-18  inclusive. 


IO3 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


not  he  has  the  nonvoluntary  attention  of  his  Juniors. 
It  does  require  a  highly  specialized  kind  of  skill  to 
secure  such  attention.  There  are  degrees  of  atten¬ 
tion,  and  the  teacher  who  finds  his  pupils  not  only 
answering  questions  readily,  but  asking  them  be¬ 
cause  their  interest  is  leading  them  on  to  know 
more  of  the  subject,  may  feel  that  his  group  is  sat¬ 
isfactorily  meeting  one  of  the  first  tests  of  response. 

Stimulated  thinking. — The  asking  of  questions 
usually  indicates  that  the  thinking  processes  have 
been  aroused.  Yet  this  is  not  always  so,  for  the 
Junior  will  ask  many  random  questions  which 
seem  to  be  “off  the  point.”  But  the  teacher  can 
readily  distinguish  between  those  questions  which 
mean  that  the  mind  is  alert  to  the  issue  under  dis¬ 
cussion  and  those  which  are  prompted  by  idle 
curiosity  or  haphazard  thought.  What  we  covet 
as  teachers  is  not  so  much  the  assurance  that  facts 
have  been  assimilated  as  the  joy  of  seeing  that 
minds  have  been  opened  to  the  truth  and  to  a 
desire  for  further  truth.  Dr.  Coe  remarks  that  it 
will  be  a  happy  day  for  teaching  when  a  child  shall 
be  given  credit  not  for  the  quickness  with  which 
he  answers  a  question  but  for  the  length  of  time  it 
takes  him  to  arrive  at  a  conclusion.  Too  often  it 
is  the  most  rapid  answerer  of  questions  who  wins 
the  teacher’s  approval.  One  real  test,  then,  of 
response  from  the  group  is  the  indication  that 
thinking  is  going  on. 

Participation  in  class  work. — Aside  from  the 
answering  and  asking  of  questions,  there  are  other 
types  of  class  activity  which  indicate  a  response  to 
the  teaching.  A  cheerful,  cooperative  spirit  in  the 
carrying  out  of  all  class  projects,  a  ready  response 

104 


THE  ART  OF  TEACHING  JUNIORS 


to  all  suggestions  for  work  to  be  done,  the  offering 
of  suggestions  as  to  ways  of  bettering  the  classroom 
procedure — all  of  these  mean  that  there  is  a  re¬ 
sponse  to  the  teacher  and  his  method  of  teaching. 

Results  in  daily  living. — Of  all  the  tests  the  most 
vital  and  the  one  most  surely  indicating  the  extent 
to  which  the  pupils  have  been  “taught”  is  to  be 
found  in  their  daily  living.  And  of  all  the  tests  this 
is  the  most  difficult  to  apply  with  any  certainty  of 
accurate  results.  How  may  we  know  how  religious 
a  Junior  is?  To  apply  this  test  means  that  the 
teacher  must  live  with  his  Juniors  in  some  degree 
of  intimacy,  that  he  must  know  their  problems 
and  their  attitudes  toward  them,  and  that  he  must 
see  them  in  their  homes.  He  must  be  in  such  close 
touch  with  the  parents  that  they  will  help  him  to 
know  how  far  the  attitudes  stressed  in  the  church- 
school  teaching  are  expressed  in  the  home  and  play 
relationships.  A  teacher  may  do  well  to  keep  some 
simple  form  of  recordi 2  for  his  own  use  indicating 
how  far  along  each  Junior  is  in  the  way  of  Chris¬ 
tian  living,  what  problems  he  has  met  and  solved, 
what  habits  he  has  overcome  or  established,  just 
where  he  needs  help  most.  Such  a  careful  study 
of  each  child  might  make  our  teaching  more  direct, 
more  personal,  more  constructive. 

For  Further  Reading : 

Strayer  and  Norsworthy — How  to  Teach . 

McMurry —  How  to  Study . 

James — Talks  to  Teachers. 

Horne — The  Art  of  Questioning. 

Betts — How  to  Teach  Religion. 

i  See  Chapter  XXIII,  “The  Junior  Department  at  Work,”  p.  287. 

105 


CHAPTER  VII 


TYPES  OF  TEACHING 

The  art  of  teaching,  we  saw  in  the  previous  chap¬ 
ter,  depends,  among  other  things,  upon  a  knowledge 
of  teaching  method.  The  study  of  method  in¬ 
cludes  a  study  and  comparison  of  the  different 
types  of  lessons  which  may  be  taught  and  a  study 
of  the  various  types  of  classroom  procedure. 

The  teacher  discovers  from  a  study  of  method 
that  all  methods  are  not  usable  on  all  occasions, 
that  lesson  aims  vary  and,  correspondingly,  the 
method  must  be  changed.  Some  methods  are 
better  adapted  to  a  particular  situation  than  are 
others.  So  he  gradually  comes  to  see  that  it  is 
not  safe  to  rely  merely  upon  what  some  other 
teacher  has  done  with  success. 

TYPES  OF  LESSONS 

The  type  of  lessons  most  commonly  referred  to  are : 
the  information  lesson,  the  developmental  lesson, 
the  application  lesson,  the  drill  lesson,  the  appre¬ 
ciation  lesson,  the  review  lesson,  and  the  assign¬ 
ment  lesson.  Some  lessons  involve  the  use  of  several 
of  these  types.  In  fact,  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  teach  a  lesson  and  confine  oneself  to  any  one 
type  exclusively. 

The  informational  lesson.— The  informational 
lesson  is  used  in  the  teaching  of  almost  every  other 
type  of  lesson  mentioned,  since  facts — accurate 

106 


TYPES  OF  TEACHING 


facts — must  be  the  basis  for  all  our  thinking,  our 
reasoning,  our  appreciation.  The  danger  some¬ 
times  has  been  that  we  have  placed  too  great  em¬ 
phasis  upon  information,  and  not  enough  upon 
some  of  the  other  types  of  teaching.  The  Junior 
teacher  has  a  great  opportunity  as  well  as  a  great 
responsibility  in  the  use  of  this  type  of  lesson,  be¬ 
cause  the  Junior  child  is  so  ready  to  absorb  facts. 
There  is  the  opportunity  to  supply  him  with  fruit¬ 
ful  and  accurate  fact  information  at  the  time  when 
it  is  easiest  for  him  to  acquire  and  retain  it. 

The  developmental  lesson. — This  type  is  some¬ 
times  called  the  inductive  lesson.  In  using  it 
the  teacher  starts  with  some  concrete  situation 
or  problem  which  grows  out  of  the  child’s  own 
observation  or  experience.  He  helps  him,  first 
of  all,  to  see  the  problem  clearly;  then  to  gather 
together,  one  by  one,  facts  which  will  help  him  solve 
it.  These  facts  are  compared  one  with  another. 
The  useless  ones  are  rejected.  The  helpful  and 
pertinent  ones  are  kept.  The  general  principle  of 
the  solution  of  the  problem  which  the  study  of 
these  facts  reveals  is  discovered.  Lastly,  this  prin¬ 
ciple  is  applied  and  the  solution  discovered. 

The  advantage  of  this  type  of  teaching  lies  in 
the  fact  that  it  helps  the  child  to  discover  truth  for 
himself.  The  teacher  who  would  use  it  success¬ 
fully  must  know  his  child  well  so  that  he  may  be 
sure  to  start  with  the  child’s  own  experience.  The 
pupil  must  have  clearly  in  mind  the  problem  upon 
which  he  is  working.  This  means  that  the  teacher 
must  have  the  conclusion  of  the  thought-process 
clearly  in  mind  before  he  starts  to  teach. 

The  application  lesson. — This  type  of  lesson  is 

107 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


often  called  the  deductive  lesson.  The  start  here  is 
made  with  the  statement  of  some  general  prin¬ 
ciple.  Then  the  pupil  proceeds  to  verify  it  by  the 
study  of  the  experiences  of  others  as  well  as  his 
own.  We  try  to  help  the  pupil  to  see  the  applica¬ 
tion  of  this  general  truth  in  the  lives  of  men  and 
women  and  of  the  human  race. 

The  larger  part  of  the  lessons  in  the  quarterlies 
follows  this  method.  They  proceed  from  the  assump¬ 
tion  of  a  general  truth  to  its  application  in  con¬ 
crete  situations.  Valuable  as  this  method  is,  the 
teacher  should  take  some  of  the  Sunday  school 
lessons  and  replan  them  so  as  to  lead  the  pupil  to 
discover  the  truth  instead  of  always  having  it  first 
stated  for  him. 

The  drill  lesson. — This  type  of  lesson  should 
receive  the  careful  consideration  of  the  Junior 
teacher.  Educators  have  been  disagreeing  some¬ 
what  of  late  as  to  the  value  of  drills.  Undoubtedly, 
there  was  a  time  when  the  drill  method  was  over¬ 
worked;  but,  too,  there  may  be  a  real  danger  in 
swinging  away  from  it  altogether. 

Religious  experience  cannot  be  drilled  into  a 
person.  There  will  be  less  of  the  drill  method 
used  in  the  church  school  than  in  the  public  school. 
But  the  child,  at  the  Junior  age,  responds  to  the 
drill  method,  and  there  are  some  things  which 
he  needs  to  know,  and  to  know  well,  as  a  basis  for 
religious  experience. 

This  is  the  time  when  he  will  readily  learn  memory 
selections  from  the  Bible,  those  parts  which  are 
full  of  beauty  or  rich  in  suggestion  of  ideals  of 
living.  Since  a  large  part  of  his  curriculum  ma¬ 
terial  is  from  the  Bible,  and  since  the  church  school 

108 


TYPES  OF  TEACHING 


offers  practically  his  only  chance  to  learn  about 
this  book,  he  should  learn,  probably  while  he  is 
in  the  Junior  Department,  something  about  the 
books  of  the  Bible — how  they  were  written  and 
compiled  and  their  order  of  appearance  in  the 
Bible.  Since  the  lives  of  so  many  of  the  heroes 
whom  he  studies  were  lived  in  Palestine,  a  country 
whose  geography  receives  so  little  attention  in  the 
public  school,  and  since  for  the  richest  and  fullest 
appreciation  of  these  lives  he  needs  to  understand 
the  geographical  and  historical  background  from 
which  they  sprang,  he  ought  to  have  a  ready,  work¬ 
ing  knowledge  of  the  geography  of  the  Holy  Land. 

The  appreciation  lesson. — One  of  the  most  val¬ 
uable  types  of  lessons  for  the  teacher  of  religion 
is  the  lesson  which  seeks  to  develop  the  pupil’s 
appreciation  of  religious  truth  and  beauty.  While 
the  aim  of  many  Sunday  school  lessons  is  to  create 
an  appreciation  of  character  or  of  truth,  the  method 
used  in  the  presentation  of  the  lesson  material  is 
more  apt  to  stimulate  analysis  than  appreciation. 

The  child  may  be  able  to  analyze  great  conduct 
without  thrilling  to  its  greatness.  He  may  acquire 
knowledge  about  it  but  not  of  it.  He  may  be  able 
to  comprehend  an  ideal  without  loving  it  and 
aspiring  to  it.  It  is  of  supreme  importance  that 
during  the  Junior  age  he  shall  acquire  the  greatest 
possible  appreciative  capacity.  The  things  and 
the  people  whom  we  admire  and  enjoy  are  the 
things  and  the  people  that  will  make  us  live  greatly 
and  nobly. 

There  are  a  few  secrets  for  the  teacher  to  remem¬ 
ber  in  the  use  of  the  appreciation  lesson.  First 
of  all,  the  teacher  cannot  hope  to  arouse  enthusiasm 

109 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


for  any  life  or  any  truth  or  any  work  of  art  unless 
he  himself  is  deeply  and  sincerely  enthusiastic 
about  it.  Appreciation  begets  appreciation.  Sec¬ 
ondly,  this  does  not  mean  that  he  is  to  force  his 
evaluations  or  appreciations  upon  the  pupil.  Rather 
he  should  encourage  the  pupil  to  appreciate  it  in 
his  own  way.  In  the  third  place,  adult  standards 
of  appreciaton  must  not  be  expected  of  the  child. 
There  are  certain  elemental  conduct  ideals  which 
a  Junior  will  readily  admire,  while  he  fails  in  his 
ability  to  appreciate  some  more  subtle  character 
traits. 

The  opportunity  for  the  Junior  teacher  in  the 
use  of  the  appreciation  lesson  is  very  great.  Some 
children  may  be  born  with  a  greater  capacity  for 
enjoyment  than  others,  but  by  training  we  may 
determine  what  they  will  enjoy.  There  is  a  second 
opportunity  in  the  teaching  of  the  appreciation 
method,  and  that  is  the  opportunity  to  affect  con¬ 
duct.  For,  while  appreciation  of  the  true  and 
beautiful  is  not  an  absolute  guarantee  that  one 
will  live  truly  and  beautifully,  yet  such  an  appre¬ 
ciation  tends  to  make  conduct  true  and  beautiful. 

The  review  lesson. — The  review  lesson  loses  its 
greatest  value  if  it  is  a  mere  repetition  and  recall 
of  past  lessons.  Unless  it  is  really  a  re-view,  it  does 
not  accomplish  its  most  fruitful  purpose. 

The  mountain  climber,  as  he  follows  the  trail 
which  winds  back  and  forth  around  the  edge  of  the 
mountain,  at  every  new  turn  and  level  of  the  trail 
sees  much  the  same  view  which  he  saw  before,  but 
always  from  a  little  different,  a  little  higher  angle. 
The  same  scene  appears  different  and  usually  more 
full  of  promise  with  every  higher  vision  of  it. 

no 


TYPES  OF  TEACHING 


The  review  lesson  should  have  this  effect  upon 
the  pupil.  It  should  help  him  to  see  the  old  truths 
from  a  higher  vantage  point  than  when  he  first 
viewed  them.  Now  he  sees  them  in  the  light  of 
all  that  has  followed  since  his  earlier  vision. 

The  assignment  lesson. — Of  all  parts  of  the 
teaching  process,  none  is  more  important  than  the 
assigning  of  a  new  lesson  or  of  a  further  problem 
for  study.  The  teacher  who  merely  announces  that 
the  lesson  for  next  time  is  such  and  such,  with  cer¬ 
tain  questions  to  be  answered,  has  announced  a 
lesson;  he  has  not  assigned  it.  The  assignment 
involves  the  preparation  of  the  pupil’s  mind  for  the 
following  lesson.  Its  aim  is  largely  to  create  a 
motive  for  further  research,  to  stimulate  the  desire 
to  explore  further. 

But  it  must  not  stop  there.  It  must  contain  a 
clear  and  definite  statement  of  the  task  to  be  done, 
in  language  which  the  pupil  can  readily  understand, 
and  in  a  form  so  definite  that  he  cannot  forget  or 
misinterpret  it.  If  the  Junior  teacher  actually 
teaches  the  lesson  to  his  group  under  a  plan  of 
supervised  study ,  the  assignment  becomes  what  it 
should  be,  an  integral  part  of  the  whole  teaching 
process,  and  not  something  tacked  on  at  the  end 
of  the  period. 


TEACHING  METHODS 

In  the  teaching  of  a  lesson  in  any  one  of  the 
above  ways,  a  variety  of  teaching  methods  may 
be  used.  Our  Sunday-school  teaching  is  apt  to 
suffer  from  a  paucity  of  methods.  It  is  very  easy 
for  a  teacher  in  any  kind  of  a  school  to  get  into  ruts 
and  to  plan  lessons  week  after  week  using  the 

hi 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


same  pattern.  One  of  the  advantages  of  seeing 
others  teach  is  the  inspiration  which  comes  to  try 
something  different  ourselves.  What  are  some  of  the 
methods  which  may  be  used  effectively  with  Juniors? 

The  question-and-answer  method. — Of  all  the 
methods,  the  one  in  most  common  use  is  that  of 
question  and  answer.  Although  in  such  common 
use,  this  method  is  capable  of  much  improvement 
in  the  hands  of  the  average  teacher.  It  is  not  true, 
as  some  suppose,  that  anybody  can  ask  a  question 
satisfactorily.  The  important,  and  often  difficult 
thing,  is  to  ask  a  question  that  will  secure  a  proper 
response  from  the  child. 

The  following  are  a  few  simple  rules  which  will 
help  to  make  questioning  of  the  greatest  value: 

First,  questions  should  not  always  he  concerned 
with  facts.  It  is  uninteresting  to  answer  for  any 
length  of  time  such  questions  as:  “What  did  Joseph 
ask  his  brothers  first?  What  did  he  say  when  he 
saw  Benjamin?  What  did  Joseph  do  when  he 
looked  upon  Benjamin?  How  was  Benjamin  served 
at  the  feast?”  One  question  of  inquiry  as  to  the 
way  in  which  Joseph  evidently  felt  toward  this 
youngest  brother  would  bring  out  all  the  answers 
to  the  above  questions. 

The  most  interesting  questions  are  those  which 
deal  with  reasons  and  feelings.  They  are  some¬ 
times  called  thought  questions.  Three  or  four  well- 
chosen  thought  questions  may  serve  to  bring  out 
almost  all  the  necessary  facts.  In  order  to  answer 
intelligently  a  thought-question,  one  must  know 
the  facts  of  the  lesson.  Sometimes  fact  questions 
are  necessary,  but  they  should  be  subordinate  to 
the  main  questions  to  be  answered. 

1 12 


TYPES  OF  TEACHING 


In  the  second  place,  questions  should  economize 
time.  Why  ask  three  questions  to  get  the  desired 
information  when  by  a  little  thought  one  would 
accomplish  the  same  thing? 

In  the  third  place,  time  should  he  taken  to  make 
questions  interesting.  The  most  fascinating  lesson 
story  may  be  robbed  of  all  its  romance  by  stupid, 
uninteresting  questions.  On  the  other  hand,  a 
question  may  be  so  worded  that  it  immediately 
stirs  a  response  in  the  child’s  mind.  Questions  need 
to  he  clear  and  definite  if  children  are  to  answer  them. 
They  must  deal  with  only  what  is  in  their  experience 
or  on  their  level  of  understanding.  This  requires 
that  the  teacher  shall  understand  how  the  different 
members  of  his  class  differ  from  each  other.  All 
questions  are  not  for  the  same  individual. 

The  discussion  method. — The  discussion  method 
is  a  further  development  of  the  question  method. 
When  questions  are  thought-provoking  and  refer 
to  the  pupil’s  own  experience,  discussion  is  apt 
to  follow.  However,  the  Junior  child  does  not 
carry  on  such  a  sustained  or  logical  discussion  as  the 
adolescent  does.  He  is  not  yet  of  the  age  when  he 
is  reasoning,  testing,  and  questioning  the  truth  in 
everything.  His  experience  has  not  yet  been  full 
or  deep  or  wide  enough  to  furnish  a  basis  for  pro¬ 
tracted  discussion.  He  will  argue  somewhat,  but 
often  his  remarks  are  not  to  the  point. 

However,  use  should  be  made  of  a  simple  form  of 
discussion  with  Junior  children.  Questions  asked 
should  develop  their  ability  to  think  clearly  and 
to  form  right  opinions.  The  children  should  be 
encouraged  to  express  their  ideas,  but  helped  to 
clarify  and  revise  them  if  they  are  inaccurate. 

ii3 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Discussion  in  a  Junior  class  will  need  to  be  helped 
out  by  frequent  questions  and  leadership  on  the 
part  of  the  teacher  in  order  that  it  may  culminate 
in  fruitful  conclusions. 

A  simple  form  of  the  debate  may  be  used  occa¬ 
sionally  to  stimulate  the  pupils’  thinking  and  to 
get  them  to  look  up  facts  and  to  verify  principles. 
The  question  to  be  debated  should  be  stated  very 
simply  so  that  both  sides  understand  the  same 
thing  by  it.  Absolute  fairness  should  be  preserved 
in  conducting  the  debate,  as  to  time  limits  and  the 
opportunity  for  refutation.  No  statements  which 
cannot  be  verified  should  be  allowed  to  pass  by  the 
teacher  without  further  investigation  and  proof. 
The  question  to  be  debated  should  be  of  such  a 
nature  that  whichever  side  wins  no  harmful  or 
unethical  issue  appears  to  triumph. 

The  topical  method. — Junior  children  are  not  as 
able  as  those  a  little  older  to  report  on  topics.  They 
have  not  had  sufficient  training  to  enable  them  to 
select  just  the  material  pertinent  to  the  subject 
under  discussion  or  to  abbreviate  it  or  arrange  it 
in  an  interesting  way  to  present  to  others.  If 
topics  are  assigned  to  them,  they  should  have 
assistance  in  arranging  the  material  before  they 
present  it  to  the  class. 

Junior  children  can  be  taught,  however,  to  do  some 
simple  research  work.  When  further  information  is 
needed  for  the  solution  of  a  problem  the  Junior 
can  be  asked  to  look  up  and  report  upon  some  one 
definite  thing  which  can  be  told  in  a  few  words. 
Children  can  be  sent  to  the  public  library,  espe¬ 
cially  where  there  is  a  children’s  librarian,  to  look 
for  such  information. 

114 


TYPES  OF  TEACHING 


A  class  of  sixth-grade  boys  had  been  the  despair 
of  their  teacher.  “They  never  do  any  studying/’ 
he  reported.  During  his  absence  from  town  the 
director  of  religious  education  took  his  class  for 
several  Sundays.  On  the  first  Sunday  the  question 
arose,  “What  became  of  Jesus’  disciples  after  his 
death?”  Four  boys  were  asked  to  look  up  one  of 
each  of  the  following  four,  James,  Peter,  John  and 
Matthew,  and  to  report  on  them  the  next  Sunday. 

During  the  week  that  followed  the  director  meant 
to  send  a  reminder  through  the  mail,  as  she  did  not 
want  to  come  up  against  failure  the  first  time  she 
assigned  a  lesson.  But  the  week  was  very  full; 
Saturday  came  and  no  reminders  had  been  sent. 
When  she  met  the  class  Sunday  morning  she  was 
almost  startled  to  be  greeted  by,  “Call  on  me  first; 
I  looked  mine  up.”  And  it  developed  that  all  four 
boys  had  been  to  the  public  library,  sought  the  help 
of  the  children’s  librarian,  and  had  their  reports 
ready.  The  pursuit  of  knowledge  had  been  given  a 
new  dignity  by  the  correlation  with  the  public  library. 

The  lecture  method. — The  lecture  method  has 
come  into  great  disapprobation,  with  the  promotion 
of  some  newer  and  more  effective  teaching  methods. 
However,  there  are  times,  even  in  the  teaching 
of  elementary  grades,  when  some  things  have  to 
be  told  to  the  children  by  the  teacher. 

Sometimes  the  teacher,  or  some  one  who  knows , 
can  bring  needed  information  to  the  class  in  a  more 
interesting  way  than  by  the  reading  of  books. 
Printed  material  may  need  to  be  adapted,  abbre¬ 
viated,  or  made  more  interesting.  Or  perhaps  there 
are  things  which  need  to  be  explained.  The  class 
which  is  interesting  itself  in  the  work  of  the  Child 

ii5 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Welfare  Society  will  enjoy  an  interesting  talk  on 
what  is  being  done  to  make  better  babies.  That 
group  of  Juniors  which  is  working  on  a  project 
of  a  mission  school  in  China  will  work  with  greater 
enthusiasm  if  a  truly  interesting  missionary  talks  to 
them  about  Chinese  boys  and  girls  and  the  help 
which  is  needed  from  this  particular  group  of  Juniors. 

The  memory  method. — Probably  the  reason  why 
teachers  of  religion  have  not  achieved  surer  results 
from  the  use  of  this  method  is  that  they  have  not 
properly  understood  how  to  use  it.  They  have 
relied  largely  upon  repetition  alone  to  fix  ideas  in 
the  child’s  memory,  forgetting  or  not  realizing  that 
memorizing  is  simply  a  process  of  habit  formation 
and  that  all  the  laws  which  apply  to  the  formation 
of  any  habit  apply  here  also. 

Instead  of  one  process,  that  of  repetition,  there 
are  several  which  must  be  employed  if  the  child 
mind  is  to  retain  what  it  has  learned. 

In  the  first  place,  the  thing  to  be  memorized  should 
appeal  to  the  child.  At  the  very  outset  a  motive 
for  memorizing  the  particular  selection  or  list  should 
be  established. 

We  will  suppose  that  a  Junior  Department  is  to 
memorize  the  song  “Soldiers  of  the  Right.”  It 
is  in  war  time  and  they  are  to  sing  this  song  in  a 
program  of  the  entire  church  school.  There  is  the 
motive  of  wanting  the  Junior  Department  to  appear 
at  its  best  and  to  sing  well  before  the  rest  of  the 
school.  The  idea  of  the  morning’s  theme  is  ex¬ 
plained  before  the  song  is  learned.  There  is  the 
added  motive  of  wanting  to  get  the  message  of  the 
song  before  the  others — the  thought  that  there  are 
battles  of  righteousness  to  be  fought  in  the  realm 

116 


TYPES  OF  TEACHING 


of  character  in  times  of  peace.  Then  the  song  is 
played  and  the  words  sung  once,  and  the  martial 
spirit  of  it  as  well  as  the  rhythmic,  marching  cadence 
have  an  immediate  appeal  in  themselves.  The 
first  step  in  memorizing  has  been  taken. 

Children  will  memorize  much  more  easily  if  they 
see  the  selection  to  be  learned  as  a  whole  before  it  is 
separated  into  smaller  units  for  learning.  The 
first  approach  to  memory  work  should  be  a  study 
of  the  selection  with  the  group  so  that  they  under¬ 
stand  its  meaning  and  appreciate  its  beauty.  Then 
repetition  is  not  a  meaningless  process.  Recall  is 
based  on  the  association  of  many  ideas.  Study 
the  imagery  of  the  Shepherd  Psalm,  the  geograph¬ 
ical  background,  the  shepherd  life  in  Palestine,  and 
memorizing  is  fraught  with  meaning.  One  group 
of  Juniors  built  the  story  of  this  psalm  in  the  sand 
table  as  a  preparation  for  memorizing  it. 

When  it  comes  to  repetition,  if  the  first  two 
processes  have  been  successful,  the  child  can  be 
encouraged  to  go  over  the  material  a  number  of 
times  and  then  recall  as  much  of  it  as  he  can  from 
memory.  This  means  that  he  is  focusing  attention 
upon  the  significance  of  the  selection  while  he  is 
recalling  it.  After  he  has  seen  the  meaning  of  it 
as  a  whole,  it  can  be  divided  into  smaller  thought 
units  and  each  of  these  studied,  repeated,  and 
recalled  and  repeated  again.  A  unit  should  end 
where  the  thought  ends.  Then  several  units  can  be 
combined  and  repeated  together,  increasing  each 
time  the  amount  to  be  repeated.  During  the 
process  of  repetition  care  should  be  taken  that  no 
mistakes  creep  in,  for  the  mistake  once  memorized 
is  difficult  to  unlearn. 

ii  7. 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


It  must  be  remembered  that  a  child  cannot 
study  at  high  tension  for  a  very  long  period  of  time. 
For  this  reason  drill  periods  should  not  he  too  long 
without  some  variation  in  practice.  Several  short 
periods  of  vigorous,  interested  drill  will  accomplish 
more  than  one  that  is  long  drawn  out.  Varying  the 
method  of  practice  lessens  fatigue  and  keeps  the 
interest  keen.  Competitions  between  learners  for 
the  memorizing  of  a  certain  amount  in  a  certain 
number  of  minutes  will  make  a  little  variation. 
Sometimes  one  can  change  from  the  written  to 
the  oral  method,  from  the  blackboard  to  the  seat, 
from  individual  to  group  recitation,  or  one  can 
make  a  game  out  of  it. 

When  a  thing  is  first  being  memorized  it  should 
he  recalled  at  frequent  intervals.  The  periods  be¬ 
tween  practice  should  be  lengthened  only  gradually. 
Memory  selections,  after  they  have  become  a  men¬ 
tal  possession,  should  not  be  allowed  to  fall  into 
complete  disuse,  but  a  place  should  be  made  for 
their  use  from  time  to  time  so  that  they  may  be¬ 
come  permanent  possessions. 

The  manual  method. — There  is  a  place  for  a 
wise  use  of  this  method  in  a  Junior  program.  Some 
things  can  best  be  learned  with  the  aid  of  the  hand. 
The  Junior  who  makes  a  plastecine  or  sand  map 
of  Palestine,  who  models  with  his  own  hands  the 
coast  plain,  the  plateau,  the  central  mountain 
range,  the  Jordan  valley,  the  eastern  range  and  the 
eastern  plateau,  knows  what  the  Holy  Land  is  like 
as  he  could  not  possibly  know  it  by  merely  study¬ 
ing  about  it  in  a  book. 

The  observation  method. — Education  through  the 
eye-gate  is  a  sure  process  and  one  deserving  care- 

118 


TYPES  OF  TEACHING 


ful  attention  from  the  teacher  who  wants  to  enrich 
his  teaching  equipment.  Our  teaching  has  paid 
altogether  too  little  attention  to  visual  education 
— to  the  study  and  appreciation  of  great  pictures 
as  an  aid  to  religious  development.1 

Then  there  is  the  study  of  pictures  which  give 
the  geographical  background.  A  stereopticon  talk 
on  the  Holy  Land  or  on  some  mission  field  will 
lend  enchantment  to  study  for  the  average  Junior. 
Fortunate  is  that  church  which  has  access  to  a 
moving-picture  machine  as  an  aid  to  the  study  of 
the  church-school  lesson.  A  visit  to  a  museum  will 
paint  a  picture  of  conditions  surrounding  home 
life  in  the  Orient  as  no  word  brush  can  paint  it. 
And  when  it  comes  to  social  service  projects,  the 
first-hand  observation  of  social  conditions,  when 
wisely  conducted,  is  the  very  best  preparation  for 
relief  work. 

The  story  method. — It  will  not  be  necessary  to 
say  much  about  the  story  method  here.  This 
method  is  of  such  inestimable  value  in  the  teaching 
process  that  it  will  receive  separate  treatment  in 
chapters  entirely  devoted  to  it. 

The  dramatic  method. — The  dramatization  of  the 
story  is  a  method  which  is  coming  to  be  used  more 
and  more.  The  child  who  not  only  reads  and  hears 
and  talks  about  a  situation,  but  who,  in  addition, 
actually  lives  through  it  in  dramatic  form,  makes 
himself  a  part  of  it,  enters  into  the  experiences 
of  others,  and  assimilates  desirable  attitudes  until 
they  become  a  very  part  of  himself. 

The  project  method. — The  project  method  is  in 


!See  discussion  of  Use  of  Pictures  in  Chapters  on  Cyrriculum  and  Worship, 
pages  7i,  182. 

119 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


reality  a  way  in  which  one  may  use  all  the  other 
methods.  It  provides  a  much  greater  opportunity 
for  children  to  choose  their  own  lines  of  thought 
and  activity  instead  of  placing  before  them  a  pro¬ 
gram  which  has  been  planned  entirely  by  adults. 
It  means  that  the  child  is  given  some  chance  to 
discover  his  own  purposes,  to  follow  them  up  and 
carry  them  through  to  a  completion.  This  method 
is  explained  more  fully  in  Chapter  XIV. 

For  Further  Reading : 

Strayer  and  Norsworthy — How  to  Teach. 

Horne — The  Art  of  Questioning. 

Earhart — Types  of  Teaching. 

Maxwell — The  Observation  of  Teaching. 

Hayward — The  Lesson  in  Appreciation. 


120 


CHAPTER  VIII 


THE  CLASSROOM  PERIOD 

After  the  teacher  has  acquired  some  knowledge 
of  teaching  methods  there  remains  the  problem  of 
what  to  do  with  them  in  the  classroom.  The  teach¬ 
ing  period  in  the  average  church  school  is  so  lament¬ 
ably  brief  that  the  teacher  needs  to  know  how  to 
make  every  moment  of  it  count  to  the  utmost. 
We  need  more  time  for  teaching  religion,  but  we 
also  need  more  understanding  of  the  best  way  in 
which  to  use  the  time  that  is  now  ours. 

There  are  four  ways  in  which  the  classroom 
period  can  be  made  more  effective.  One  is  by  see¬ 
ing  that  the  physical  conditions  are  such  as  to 
promote  good  teaching;  another  is  by  the  super¬ 
vision  of  the  Junior’s  study;  the  third,  the  social¬ 
izing  of  the  teaching  process  as  far  as  possible; 
and  fourth,  the  careful  planning  of  the  classroom 
procedure. 

PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  IN  THE  CLASSROOM 

\ 

In  “Rabbi  Ben  Ezra”  Browning  asks,  “Thy  body 
at  its  best,  how  far  can  it  project  thy  soul  on  its 
lone  way?”  Modern  science  has  only  one  answer 
to  that  question.  Our  bodies  at  their  best  will  make 
many  things  possible,  among  them  the  studying 
and  teaching  of  a  lesson. 

Importance  of  physical  conditions. — Many  a  lesson 
undoubtedly  goes  by  default,  not  because  the 

121 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


teacher  was  not  prepared  or  the  lesson  uninterest¬ 
ing,  but  because  some  physical  condition  was  uncom¬ 
fortable  or  distracting  for  the  child.,--  Sometimes  a 
move  so  simple  as  the  opening  of  a  window  may 
change  a  class  attitude,  yet  the  teacher  never 
thinks  of  it.  Often  the  appearance  of  a  visitor 
occurs  just  at  the  moment  when  the  teacher  needs 
the  undivided  attention  of  the  class.  Some  teach¬ 
ing  can  never  be  effective  because  of  the  cluttered 
appearance  of  the  surroundings.  The  teacher 
should,  first  of  all,  take  stock  of  his  teaching  environ¬ 
ment  and  do  whatever  is  in  his  power  to  make 
it  right. 

Right  classroom  conditions  for  Juniors. — One  of 

the  most  desirable  conditions  for  Juniors  is  a  class¬ 
room  which  insures  privacy.  Juniors  are  naturally 
noisy.  They  are  noisy  when  they  are  not  interested; 
they  are  often  noisy  when  they  are  interested.  If 
Junior  classes  meet  too  close  together  in  one  room, 
their  noisiness  is  bound  to  overlap.  The  teaching 
in  some  class  is  sure  to  suffer.  The  church  which 
has  not  separate  classrooms  should  do  all  in  its 
power  to  secure  privacy  in  some  other  way.  There 
are  curtains  which  are  fairly  effective  in  shutting 
out  noise  and  distractions.  Screens,  which  will 
at  least  give  a  limited  feeling  of  privacy,  are  avail¬ 
able  for  almost  all  of  us. 

There  are  other  physical  aids  to  good  teaching. 
Air  that  is  kept  fresh  and  not  too  warm  will  stim¬ 
ulate  mental  processes.  The  removal  of  hats  and 
coats  by  both  pupils  and  teachers  will  create  an 
atmosphere  of  work  in  which  it  is  easy  to  settle 
down  for  study.  A  woman  can  often  double  her 
effectiveness  as  a  teacher  by  removing  her  wraps. 

122 


THE  CLASSROOM  PERIODT 


And  the  removal  of  all  distractions,  such  as  the 
interruptions  of  secretaries  and  superintendents  in 
search  of  records  or  with  zeal  to  make  announce¬ 
ments  or  distribute  literature,  will  do  much  to 
promote  sustained  attention  and  seriousness  of 
attitude. 

SUPERVISING  THE  JUNIOR’S  STUDYn 

Very  few  children,  or  adults  either,  know  how  to 
study.  Without  knowing  how,  time  is  wasted  and 
the  very  results  one  sets  out  to  accomplish  are  not 
realized.  The  average  child  needs  help  in  the 
study  of  his  church-school  lesson.  There  are  reasons 
why  supervising  the  study  of  Juniors  is  particularly 
necessary. 

Reasons  for  supervising  study  of  Juniors. — We 

need  to  remember  the  comparatively  small  amount 
of  study  required  of  these  boys  and  girls  of  nine 
to  eleven  outside  of  the  regular  public-school  room. 
In  the  public  school  they  study  for  the  most  part 
in  the  schoolroom  and  often  under  the  direct  super¬ 
vision  of  the  teacher.  The  church  school,  on  the 
other  hand,  requires  that  almost  all  of  its  prepara¬ 
tion  be  done  at  home,  out  of  the  classroom.  And 
it  requires  this  under  the  most  difficult  of  all  condi¬ 
tions,  usually  with  a  whole  week  intervening  between 
the  assignment  of  the  lesson  and  the  recitation. 
This  is  a  requirement  which  no  Junior  child  is 
equipped  mentally  to  meet.  Far  better  results 
will  be  secured  if  the  Junior  class  is  turned  into 
a  study  group  where  the  teacher  studies  the  lesson 
with  (not  for )  the  pupils  and  where  the  sharp  dis¬ 
tinction  between  study  and  recitation  is  done 
away  with. 


123 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Another  reason  is  that  the  materials  with  which 
the  Junior  deals  in  religious  education  are  not 
always  easy  to  understand.  It  is  no  easier  to  solve 
a  problem  of  conduct  than  one  in  arithmetic.  It 
is  as  difficult  to  judge  between  ideals  of  living  as 
between  forms  of  rhetoric.  The  geography  of 
Palestine  is  as  hard  to  become  familiar  with  as 
that  of  France  or  India.  The  literature  of  the 
Hebrew  people,  as  well  as  their  history,  requires 
at  least  as  much  effort  as  that  of  England  or  America. 

And  the  average  adult  in  the  average  home  is 
•  less  able  to  help  his  child  with  the  study  of  his 
Bible  lesson  than  he  is  with  his  reading,  geography, 
and  even  arithmetic,  with  its  newer  methods  of 
presentation. 

Under  this  method  of  supervised  study  the  Junior 
will  get  farther  in  less  time  than  by  having  a  lesson 
assigned  which  he  is  supposed  to  work  out  himself. 
No  matter  how  explanatory  or  how  helpful  the 
Junior’s  quarterly  or  notebook,  one  reason  why  the 
lessons  learned  in  the  church  school  seem  to  have 
so  little  “staying”  quality  is  just  because  children, 
unaided,  waste  a  great  deal  of  unnecessary  time  on 
trying  to  do  the  “home  work.”  This  lack  of  super¬ 
vision  also  means  that  because  Juniors  so  often 
feel  that  they  are  getting  nowhere,  habits  of  not 
doing  the  work  at  all,  or  doing  it  in  only  a  half 
effective  way,  are  established. 

The  teacher  who  studies  with  his  class  has  the 
chance  to  keep  interest  alive.  When  the  child  works 
over  the  material  at  home  it  is  hard  for  him  to 
hold  on  to  the  thread  of  interest  aroused  in  the 
class  period  the  Sunday  previous.  When  interest 
lags,  study  gets  one  nowhere.  The  teacher  can 

124 


THE  CLASSROOM  PERIOD 


constantly  utilize  the  play  spirit  and  make  the 
entire  classroom  session  that  “fusion  of  work  and 
play”  which  is  desirable.  If  the  classroom  activity 
can  be  carried  out  in  the  spirit  of  play,  the  child 
will  devote  all  his  energy  to  it  and  better  results 
will  be  accomplished. 

How  to  supervise  the  study  of  Juniors. — Super¬ 
vision  of  study  may  be  interpreted  to  mean  several 
things.  It  may  mean  that  each  pupil  studies  the 
lesson  alone,  the  teacher  helping  individuals  with 
special  problems.  It  may  mean  that  small  groups 
work  on  material  together,  the  teacher  assisting. 
Or  it  may  mean  that  the  teacher  actually  works 
out  the  lesson  with  the  class. 

This  last  method  of  supervision  is  probably  the 
one  which  can  be  used  with  the  greatest  satisfaction 
in  the  Junior  Department,  where  only  thirty  or 
forty  minutes  are  available  for  study.  The  first 
two  methods  are  more  usable  when  the  Junior 
Department  meets  for  two  periods,  thus  allowing 
one  for  preparation  and  one  for  recitation.  Of 
course  two  periods  for  study  and  recitation  are 
desirable  under  any  plan,  as  we  shall  see  later,  but, 
when  only  one  is  available,  this  must  serve  as  study 
and  recitation  period  combined.  When  the  teacher 
studies  the  lesson  with  the  class  this  is  only  one 
method  of  teaching,  and  a  very  excellent  method. 
Let  us  see  how  this  actually  works  out  in  a  class¬ 
room. 

Let  us  suppose  the  lesson  to  be  Lesson  41  in 
Hero  Stories,  the  second-year  Junior  Course,  in 
the  International  Graded  Series,  part  4,  “The  Man 
Who  Kept  His  Word,  David  Livingstone.”  The 
following  outline  suggests  a  mode  of  procedure, 

125 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


indicating  where  and  how  the  study  may  be  super¬ 
vised  and  the  assignments  done  on  work  already 
studied  or  on  special  subjects  of  interest  to  the 
lesson  development. 

Aim. — To  arouse  the  child’s  admiration  for  Liv¬ 
ingstone’s  fine  sense  of  honor  and  his  determination 
to  make  his  own  word  “as  good  as  a  bond.” 
(Reworded  from  teacher’s  textbook.) 

This  is,  in  part,  then,  an  appreciation  lesson. 
As  a  result  the  child  should  be  helped  to  appro¬ 
priate  this  same  sense  of  honor  in  his  own  life. 

In  addition  to  the  main  aim ,  two  other  results 
should  obtain  from  the  teaching  of  this  lesson. 
The  class  should  discover — 

1.  Livingstone’s  motive  for  living  as  he  did,  the 

love  which  wanted  to  serve  others  rather 
than  himself. 

2.  That  missionaries  carry  the  gospel,  not  just 

by  “preaching”  to  the  people,  but  by 
“living  a  life.” 

Approach. — See  the  teacher’s  textbook,  the  story  of 
the  black  man  and  his  testimony  to  Livingstone 
years  afterward.  The  teacher  may  add  to  this 
the  story  of  Chuma  and  Susi  carrying  Livingstone’s 
body  to  the  sea.  The  class  may  also  be  told  of 
Westminster  Abbey,  where  his  body  now  lies 
with  kings  and  statesmen.  (See,  Servants  of  the 
King,  by  Speer.) 

Supervised  Study. — Introduced  by  the  question: 
Who  was  this  man  set  down  in  the  heart  of  Africa 
whom  black  men  never  forgot?  What  things 
would  we  like  to  know  about  him? 

Discussion  by  children  reveals  that  they  would 
like  to  know  the  following  things: 

126 


THE  CLASSROOM  PERIOD 


1.  How  he  happened  to  go  to  Africa. 

2.  What  he  did  when  he  was  a  boy. 

3.  What  he  did  to  make  the  black  man  love 

him  so. 

4.  What  he  did  to  be  so  honored  as  to  be  buried 

in  Westminster  Abbey. 

Teacher  and  class  seek  for  the  answers  to  these 
questions.  The  sources  of  information  are: 

(a)  Any  general  information  the  children  may 

already  have  about  Livingstone. 

(b)  A  special  report  may  be  given  by  one 

child  asked  to  do  this  by  the  teacher 
the  week  before.  He  tells  the  story  of 
Livingstone’s  boyhood  from  Livingstone 
Hero  Stories ,  by  Mendenhall. 

(c)  In  answer  to  questions  from  the  teacher, 

the  class  reads  in  their  own  notebooks 
and  from  the  teacher’s  textbook  further 
material. 

(1 d )  The  teacher  supplements  with  selected 
material  on  Africa  before  Livingstone 
went  there. 

This  study  reveals  that  there  are  still  more 
things  they  would  like  to  know  about  Livingstone. 
So  this  leads  to 

Assignment  One. — Some  one  child  is  asked  to  pre¬ 
pare  a  short  travel  talk  for  the  next  class  session 
on  Livingstone’s  discoveries.  All  are  asked  to 
look,  during  the  week,  for  pictures  of  African 
life. 

Lesson  Story. — “The  Man  Who  Kept  His  Word.” 
Told  by  the  teacher,  as  dramatically  as  possible, 
keeping  the  element  of  suspense  until  the  last 
moment  in  the  following  manner: 

127 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


1.  Livingstone’s  attitude  toward  the  black 

people. 

2.  The  trip  to  the  coast. 

3.  Livingstone’s  refusal  to  return  to  England 

and  leave  his  men. 

As  the  element  of  appreciation  does  not  want  to 
be  destroyed  by  immediate  discussion,  allow  a 
few  moments  for  expressions  of  appreciation  by 
the  pupils.  Possibly  show  here  some  pictures  of 
Livingstone,  or  the  book,  Livingstone  the  Path¬ 
finder ,  which  the  children  may  want  to  read  for 
themselves. 

Brief  Discussion. — This  is  for  the  purpose  of  leading 
up  to  further  study  at  home. 

Question:  Was  Livingstone’s  decision  worth  the 
sacrifice?  What  did  he  gain? 

Assignments  for  Next  Lesson. — 

1.  Each  member  of  the  class  is  asked  to  make 
a  simple  chart. 


If  he  had  gone  home, 

By  staying  he 

he  would  have 

Gained 

Lost 

Gained 

Lost 

Faith  of 

Seeing  his 

black  men. 

family. 

His  family. 

Faith  of 
black  men. 

More  glory. 

Some  glory 

His  own 

etc. 

Consciousness 

etc. 

self-esteem. 

of  doing  right. 
A  sure  road 

to  the  sea. 

2.  Several  asked  to  bring  some  further  exciting 

incidents  from  Livingstone’s  life. 

3.  What  is  the  best  way  for  a  missionary  to 

show  people  what  it  means  to  be  a  fol- 

128 


THE  CLASSROOM  PERIOD 


lower  of  Jesus?  By  a  life.  Several  pupils 
asked  to  look  up  one  or  two  others  who 
have  done  this. 

4.  One  or  two  pupils  asked  to  look  up  what 
other  people  thought  of  Livingstone. 

SECOND  LESSON  ON  LIVINGSTONE 

Approach. — Teacher  takes  a  few  minutes  to  recall, 
by  his  own  statement  or  by  asking  a  few  well- 
chosen  questions,  the  problem  before  the  class  at 
the  close  of  the  previous  session.  Then  calls  for 
the  assignments  as  follows: 

1.  Stories  told  of  incidents  from  Livingstone's 

life. 

2.  Travel  Talk,  brief  and  prepared  with  help 

of  the  teacher. 

3.  Report  on  what  others  thought  about 

Livingstone.  The  teacher's  textbook  con¬ 
tains  excellent  material  for  this. 

4.  The  general  assignment  on  what  Livingstone 

gained  and  lost.  Several  of  these  charts 
might  have  been  placed  upon  the  board 
during  the  presession  period.  Brief  com¬ 
parison  of  charts.  Let  pupils  freely  add 
to  their  own  good  points  suggested  by 
others. 

Assignment  Five.-L&st  of  all,  the  teacher  can  call 
for  reports  on  other  lives  like  Livingstone's.  This 
will  act  as  an  introduction  to  the  next  life  to  be 
studied,  which  in  the  course  of  study  is  John  G. 
Paton. 

The  above  outline  is  given  in  detail  so  that  it 
may  be  clear  just  how  study  and  recitation  and 
research  work  may  be  woven  together.  It  reveals 

129 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


one  or  two  important  things.  First,  that  in  order 
to  teach  many  of  the  lessons  in  the  lesson  book 
satisfactorily  we  have  to  make  at  least  two  lessons 
out  of  them.  It  is  far  better  to  teach  one  lesson 
well  and  omit  another  than  to  teach  two  lessons 
only  half  well.  Secondly,  it  shows  how  home  study 
may  be  motivated. 

Some  classes  might  not  respond  readily,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year,  to  the  assignments  suggested 
above,  but  pupils  will  be  more  apt  to  look  up  such 
topics  as  have  been  outlined  than  to  write  out  the 
answers  to  a  number  of  questions.  If,  for  any 
reason,  they  fail  to  make  the  chart,  the  only  general 
assignment,  time  should  be  taken  in  class  for  this, 
so  that  each  pupil  may  enter  it  in  his  notebook,  or 
so  that  it  may  be  placed  in  the  class  book,1  if  that 
plan  of  expressional  work  is  followed.  The  outline 
also  shows  how  naturally  class  projects  grow  out 
of  such  a  plan  of  teaching  and  study.  It  is  essen¬ 
tially  a  “socialized  recitation,”  in  which  pupils 
and  teacher  together  are  discoverers  of  truth. 

The  dramatization  of  Livingstone’s  life  may  fur¬ 
nish  another  lesson  for  the  classroom.  New  appre¬ 
ciations  result  when  his  life  is  studied,  for  the  purpose 
of  dramatization.  As  the  pupils  reproduce  that 
life,  they  enter  more  vitally  into  its  spirit  and 
meaning.  It  will  also  lead  on  to  other  projects. 
Natural  questions  to  be  asked  by  some  child  will  be: 
“Are  there  men  in  Africa  to-day  carrying  on  Liv¬ 
ingstone’s  work?  Who  are  they?  Where  are  they?” 
This  makes  the  opportunity  for  the  class  to  study 
something  of  the  work  of  their  own  denominational 
missionaries  in  Africa.  The  class  may  make  an 

1  For  "class  books”  see  this  chapter,  page  132®. 

130 


THE  CLASSROOM  PERIOD 


African  village  showing  the  changes  which  come 
with  missionary  work. 

In  a  class  in  Gary  where  they  were  studying 
Africa  and  Livingstone  one  child  asked  if  it  would 
not  be  a  good  idea  to  make  an  American  bed  to 
send  to  the  African  children  in  one  of  their  mission 
schools  to  show  them  just  how  a  good,  clean  bed 
should  look.  This  child,  a  girl,  encouraged  by  the 
teacher’s  assent  but  without  other  aid,  made  a  little 
wooden  bed  out  of  boxes.  She  also  made,  at  home, 
all  the  linen,  quilts,  and  comforters  for  it.2  The 
class  may  become  so  interested  that  the  teacher 
will  want  to  take  up  with  them,  at  a  week-day  period, 
or  whenever  the  chance  for  missionary  education 
is  given  in  the  department,  Jean  McKenzie’s  African 
Adventurers ,  the  story  of  two  African  boys. 

SOCIALIZING  THE  CLASSROOM  PERIOD 

Socializing  the  classroom  period  is  receiving  a 
new  emphasis  to-day  when  the  consideration  of 
social  needs  is  so  much  to  the  fore.  It  is  further 
emphasized  by  the  introduction  of  some  freer 
methods  of  classroom  discipline.  It  means  larger 
pupil  participation.  It  means  that  the  success  of 
the  recitation  is  counted  by  the  extent  to  which  it 
depended  upon  and  secured  the  contribution  of  every 
pupil. 

The  teacher  is  thought  of  more  as  a  member 
of  the  group  than  as  one  over  the  group.  It  means 
a  more  informal  atmosphere  in  the  classroom.  It 
recognizes  that  we  are  all  thoroughly  social  beings 
and  that  to  live  well  in  society  we  must  have  the 
chance  to  experiment  with  social  living  while  we 

1  Seen  in  the  Gary  Week-Day  School  exhibit  of  religious  education. 

131 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


are  yet  in  the  period  of  training.  For  this  reason 
the  classroom  must  be  a  piece  of  life,  a  small  society 
in  which  all  move  freely  and  participate  equally. 
Socializing  the  classroom  can  be  accomplished  in 
a  number  of  ways,  and  where  these  methods  are 
used  they  are  a  sure  indication  that  the  classroom 
is  a  “piece  of  life  itself.” 

Free  discussion. — Free  discussion  means  not  only 
that  which  comes  as  a  response  to  questions  asked 
by  the  teacher.  It  means  also  discussion  initiated 
by  the  pupils.  It  is  more  like  ordinary  conversation 
in  a  home  group.  When  this  occurs  there  is  a 
naturalness  about  the  classroom  proceedings  which 
makes  pupils  and  teachers  forget  that  one  is  the 
teacher  and  the  others  “the  taught.” 

Group  preparation  and  recitation. — One  of  the 
best  ways  of  socializing  a  group  is  to  assign  work 
which  will  require  the  united  effort  of  all  the  class 
or  to  subdivide  the  class  into  smaller  groups,  each 
working  upon  some  special  task  and  reporting 
back  to  the  others.  A  dramatization,  we  shall 
see  in  the  chapter  on  that  subject,  is  one  of  the 
surest  ways  of  enlisting  the  effort  of  all.  Its  success 
depends  upon  the  help  of  each  individual  pupil. 

Some  questions  assigned  for  discussion  are  such 
that  they  cannot  be  answered  until  every  one  in 
the  class  has  looked  up  needed  bits  of  information 
and  these  various  elements  have  all  been  put  together 
in  the  classroom. 

In  order  to  get  away  from  the  purely  individual¬ 
istic  method  of  study  and  recitation  some  schools 
are  making  large  use  of  the  “class  book”  instead  of 
the  individual  pupil’s  notebook.  The  class  book 
is  the  product  of  “all  of  us.”  It  should  be  as 

132, 


THE  CLASSROOM  PERIOD 


attractive  as  possible  in  its  cover  and  appearance. 
It  is  the  work  of  the  pupils  from  the  cover,  designed 
and  executed  by  one  or  several  of  them,  to  the  last 
period  on  the  last  page.  It  may  contain  class 
records  of  members,  their  names,  what  they  have 
done  in  the  way  of  helpful  service;  accounts  of 
class  activities;  photographs  of  the  class  or  of  peo¬ 
ple  in  whom  they  have  been  interested,  and  written 
and  illustrated  accounts  of  the  lessons  they  have 
studied  during  the  year. 

What  should  go  into  the  book  is  decided  upon 
by  the  entire  class  in  conference,  but  the  actual 
work  may  be  delegated  to  different  individuals, 
each  one  taking  his  turn  at  placing  in  the  contents. 
Sometimes  the  individual  does  his  share  alone,  after 
the  class  has  decided  upon  what  it  shall  be,  but 
at  other  times  the  whole  class  meets  together  to 
work  upon  the  book.  Into  it  go  services  of  worship 
led  by  the  class,  favorite  memory  selections,  pic¬ 
tures  of  heroes  or  heroines  admired,  class  prayers 
— all  that  makes  up  the  life  of  this  particular  class. 

Emphasis  upon  social  teachings. — One  evidence 
of  the  socialized  classroom  is  the  social  emphasis 
given  to  many  questions  of  life  and  conduct.  It 
is  true  that  the.  Junior  needs  personal  standards 
of  conduct,  but  the  weakness  of  much  religious 
teaching  has  been  in  its  purely  individualistic 
interpretation.  The  Junior  needs  to  see  not  only 
the  individual  but  the  social  effects  of  wrong¬ 
doing;  not  only  the  way  in  which  good  will  and 
justice  react  upon  himself  personally,  but  also  upon 
society. 

The  emphasis  upon  social  motives. — The  social¬ 
ized  method  of  teaching  emphasizes  personal  mo- 

133 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


tives  for  right  conduct.  It  also  attempts  to  expand 
the  child’s  motive-power  to  social  dimensions.  The 
whole  idea  of  the  welfare  of  the  class  group  is,  of 
course,  the  basis  of  this  freer  method  of  classroom 
procedure.  But  constant  attempts  are  made  to 
utilize  the  student’s  preparation  and  classroom  work 
to  meet  the  social  needs  of  others. 

Class  enterprises. — The  procedure  already  sug¬ 
gested  indicates  that  the  class  which  is  engaged 
upon  class  enterprises  will  be  the  most  thoroughly 
socialized  group.  What  some  of  these  enterprises 
are  will  be  suggested  in  later  chapters  on  activ¬ 
ities  of  the  Junior.  But  they  must  be,  in  every 
sense  of  the  word,  class  enterprises.  They  should 
grow  out  of  the  desires  and  interests  of  the  children, 
and,  as  far  as  possible,  they  should  be  actually 
carried  out  by  them. 

Pupil  organization. — If  we  are  to  have  class 
enterprises  and  pupil  initiative,  some  form  of 
pupil  organization  is  necessary.  A  later  chapter 
will  show  how  class  and  department  organization 
may  be  developed.  Suffice  it  to  say  here  that  a 
social  organization  must  have  a  certain  amount  of 
free  self-direction. 

An  informal  classroom  program. — It  is  perfectly 
evident  that  the  socialized  recitation  means  the 
breakdown  of  the  stilted,  formal  atmosphere  of  the 
old-time  classroom.  Evidences  of  this  freer,  less 
formal  atmosphere  are  seen  in  any  good  public 
school  to-day  where  there  is  an  effort  to  socialize 
the  teaching  process.  Many  Sunday-school  classes, 
it  is  regrettable,  have  had  a  “free,  informal  atmos¬ 
phere”  where  pupils  have  indulged  in  license  instead 
of  freedom  and  where  disorder  has  prevailed.  This 

134 


THE  CLASSROOM  PERIOD 


is  not  to  be  confused  with  that  freedom  which, 
while  natural  and  informal,  is  self-controlled  and 
governed  by  interest. 

PLANNING  THE  CLASSROOM  PERIOD 

To  realize  social  aims  in  the  classroom  and  to 
supervise  the  pupil’s  study,  as  well  as  his  recita¬ 
tion,  require  not  less  but  more  planning.  But  it 
is  not  difficult  to  accomplish  if  the  teacher  works 
faithfully  upon  his  plans. 

The  teacher’s  plan. — Only  the  teacher  with  a 
well-thought-out  plan  can  be  sure  that  he  will  have 
a  mind  at  leisure  from  the  mechanics  of  teaching 
during  the  classroom  period,  and  will  be  able  to 
hold  the  child  in  the  center  of  his  thought.  Under 
any  method  there  is  always  the  problem  of  the 
responsive  child  who  wants  to  do  all  the  talking 
and  take  all  the  initiative  and  the  slower  child 
or  the  timid  one  who  needs  to  be  drawn  out.  If 
the  recitation  is  to  be  socialized  its  plan  must  take 
into  account  every  child  in  the  group. 

To  be  helpful,  the  teacher’s  plan  should  be  a 
simple  one.  It  should  be  written  out,  at  least 
until  one  has  had  a  great  deal  of  experience.  And 
it  should  be  written  in  such  a  form  that  its  main 
points  of  procedure  stand  out  in  the  margin  and 
indicate  at  a  glance  what  the  next  move  is.  After 
the  plan  is  written  out  it  should  be  studied  until 
the  teacher  knows  it  well.  He  must  not  be  a  slave 
to  his  written  plan  when  he  comes  to  the  classroom, 
but  should  be  able  to  forget  it.  He  may  have  it 
with  him  for  reference,  but  must  have  its  main 
points  in  his  own  mind.  It  must  be  such  a  plan 
that  will  allow  for  variation  according  as  the  chil- 

x35 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


dren  initiate  new  ideas  themselves.  No  group  will 
ever  respond  in  class  exactly  as  the  teacher’s  plan 
anticipates. 

And,  last  of  all,  the  teacher’s  plan  should  make 
a  place  for  the  individual  differences  in  the  children 
in  his  group.  It  should  include  some  provision 
for  getting  a  response  from  each  child,  some  way, 
thought  out  beforehand,  in  which  each  child  may 
be  helped  to  participate. 

Order  of  the  classroom  procedure. — Only  the 
individual  teacher  can  decide  upon  the  best  order 
of  procedure  for  his  class  room.  Pupils,  conditions, 
and  aims  vary.  The  following  is  merely  a  suggested 
form  which  indicates  how  the  class  time  might  be 
divided. 

A  One-period  Class  Session 

Class  business-— (Pupil  officers  presiding). 

Recitation  on  lesson  studied  by  class  the  previous 

Sunday. 

New  lesson 

Approach — By  teacher  or  pupil  teacher. 

Supervised  study. 

Discussion. 

Assignment. 

Class  worship. 

This  order  may  be  turned  about,  with  class 
worship  coming  first  and  the  business  reserved  for 
the  closing  period.  There  is  no  attempt  in  the 
above  order  to  indicate  the  infinite  variation  in  the 
teaching  of  the  lesson,  where  the  study  may  follow 
the  telling  of  the  lesson  story  by  the  teacher,  or 
where  dramatization  may  take  the  place  of  recita¬ 
tion,  or  where  many  other  variations  may  occur. 

136 


( 


THE  CLASSROOM  PERIOD 

Sometimes  even  class  worship  comes  best  at  the 
very  heart  of  the  morning’s  study. 

Two- Period  Session 

First  period.  Class  business. 

Supervised  study. 

Interval  for  department  worship. 

Second  period.  Recitation. 

Class  worship. 

Expressional  activity. 

Discussion  of  service  activities. 

This  order  is  not  an  absolute  one.  It  only  serves 
to  indicate  how  a  two-period  class  session  pro¬ 
vides  an  opportunity  for  both  supervised  study  and 
recitation  and  also  how  there  is  time  for  expres¬ 
sional  work  to  be  adequately  done. 

For  Further  Reading : 

McMurry — How  to  Study. 

Dewey — How  We  Think. 

Strayer  and  Norsworthy — How  to  Teach ,  Chap¬ 
ter  14. 

Dewey — Schools  of  To-morrow. 


137 


CHAPTER  IX 


THE  USE  OF  THE  STORY  IN  THE  JUNIOR 

DEPARTMENT 

“What  do  you  like  best  about  your  Junior  De¬ 
partment?’’  a  group  of  Juniors  was  asked.  By 
far  the  largest  number  of  them  said,  “We  like  the 
stories  best.”  Said  one  girl,  “I  like  the  opening 
services,  but  best  of  all  are  the  stories.”  Contrast 
with  this  the  remark  of  a  supervisor  of  instruction 
who  is  associated  with  a  university  department  of 
religious  education:  “I  cannot  get  my  teachers 
of  Juniors  to  use  the  story  method.  They  preach 
to  the  children,  but  very  few  of  them  tell  stories.” 
That  Juniors  as  well  as  younger  children  love  stories 
and  respond  to  their  appeal  there  is  every  evidence. 
Indeed,  there  seems  to  be  no  age  limit  beyond  which 
the  story  does  not  have  power  to  grip  the  hearer. 

THE  POWER  AND  PURPOSE  OF  THE  STORY 

Possibly  we  may  feel  the  power  and  the  signifi¬ 
cance  of  the  story  in  the  education  of  the  Junior, 
if  we  think  of  the  stories  we  tell  as  doing  four  things. 
They  make  truth  attractive.  They  make  lasting 
impressions.  They  stimulate  ideals.  They  influ¬ 
ence  conduct.  Let  us  see  how  they  do  these  things. 

The  story  makes  truth  attractive. — One  may 
preach  on  the  theme  that  it  is  great  and  beautiful 
to  have  faith  in  the  good  in  one’s  fellow  men,  but 
that  truth  becomes  compelling  when  it  is  heard 

138 


THE  USE  OF  THE  STORY 


in  the  story  of  “Jean  Valjean  and  the  Bishop’s 
Candlesticks.”  The  sacrifice  of  the  thing  which 
one  holds  most  dear  in  all  the  world  in  order  to 
render  some  little  service  to  others  is  a  noble  ideal; 
but  it  glows  with  attractiveness  and  seems  infinitely 
worth  while  in  Van  Dyke’s  story  of  “The  Other 
Wise  Man.” 

When  a  child  listens  to  stories  woven  of  such 
ideals  the  feeling  element  is  strong,  and  when  our 
feelings  are  touched  and  stirred  the  impression  is 
deep  and,  under  favorable  conditions,  tends  to 
express  itself  in  action.  If  we  want  to  make  our 
Juniors  love  honesty,  bravery,  unselfishness,  let 
us  embody  these  ideals  in  good  stories  and  let  the 
story  do  its  work. 

The  story  makes  a  lasting  impression. — What 
stories  do  you  remember  from  your  childhood? 
Of  all  the  impressions  left  from  those  early  days, 
is  there  not  some  story,  good  or  bad,  which  has 
stayed  with  you  through  the  years?  “The  spoken 
word  is  the  remembered  word,”  says  Seumas 
MacManus. 

The  well-told  story  does  not  deal  with  abstractions. 
Indeed,  it  cannot,  for  a  story  means  people  and  things 
and  actions.  The  story  is  full  of  concrete  images 
and  pictures;  and  pictures,  even  word  pictures,  have 
a  way  of  “sticking.”  The  child  who  shuts  his 
eyes  and  thinks  of  David  Livingstone  does  not 
see  honor  and  self-sacrifice  and  service.  He  sees 
a  jungle  and  lions  and  a  brave  man.  He  sees  the 
same  brave  man  forging  ahead  through  fever  swamps, 
his  step  lagging  but  determined.  He  sees  him  at 
the  coast,  literally  turning  his  back  on  England 
and  the  sea  and  a  great  ship,  and  marching  back 

139 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


into  the  jungle  again  with  a  company  of  black 
men.  He  sees  a  little  African  village  and  a  lonely 
white  man  and  the  sudden  appearance  of  another 
white  man  who  has  found  the  lost  missionary. 
These  and  many  other  vivid  pictures  the  Junior 
will  never  forget  and  they  spell  for  him  the  ideal 
of  self-forgetful  service  and  brave  determination  to 
accomplish  a  purpose. 

Why  will  he  never  forget  such  pictures?  Not 
only  because  they  are  concrete  images,  but  also 
because  some  person  who  had  first  seen  them  stood 
before  him  with  animation,  enthusiasm,  and  com¬ 
plete  forgetfulness  of  self  and  told  them  to  him. 
The  personality  of  the  story-teller  enhances  the 
power  of  the  story.  That  is  why  G.  Stanley  Hall 
said,  “Let  me  tell  the  stories  and  I  care  not  who 
writes  the  textbooks.”  Let  every  Junior  teacher 
turn  his  textbook  into  a  storybook. 

The  story  stimulates  ideals. — After  all,  the  value 
of  any  personality  to  the  world  depends  upon  how 
richly  the  mind  is  stored  with  images  of  “Whatsoever 
things  are  honorable,  are  just,  are  pure,  are  lovely,  and 
of  good  report.”  Childhood  is  the  time  for  storing 
the  mind  with  these  mental  pictures,  for  feeding  the 
soul  with  idealism,  for  quickening  the  imagination 
and  propelling  it  toward  great  ends.  All  these 
things  can  the  story  do. 

The  story  influences  conduct. — It  would  be  better 
to  say  that  the  good  story  tends  to  make  conduct 
what  it  should  be.  For  we  must  not  rely  upon  stories 
alone  to  make  character.  We  have  seen  that  the 
story  grips  the  feelings  and  that  they,  in  turn, 
tend  to  express  themselves  in  action.  We  have 
noted  that  attractive  ideals  tend  to  embody  them- 

140 


THE  USE  OF  THE  STORY 


selves  in  human  personality.  We  have  also  seen 
that  the  impressions  of  childhood  stories  abide 
and  influence  one  even  into  mature  years. 

And,  added  to  this,  under  the  power  of  their 
admiration  for  heroes  and  heroines,  Juniors  strive 
to  emulate  their  heroes,  and  so  great  ideals  become 
incarnated  in  the  lives  of  growing  boys  and  girls. 
Since  these  things  are  so,  no  teacher  of  Juniors 
can  afford  to  deny  himself  the  power  of  the  story 
method. 


STORY  INTERESTS  OF  JUNIORS 

One  can  learn  about  the  story  interests  of  Juniors 
in  many  books  on  story-telling  or  in  books  which 
deal  with  the  characteristics  of  childhood.  In 
these  books  we  find  our  Junior  referred  to  as  be¬ 
longing  to  the  “heroic  age,”  or  the  “Big-Injun  age,” 
or,  possibly,  the  “realistic  age.”  The  story  interests 
of  a  Junior  are  not  hard  to  find.  His  interest  is  in 
hero  stories,  adventure  stories,  achievement  stories, 
and  stories  of  history. 

Hero  interests. — The  stories  which  the  Junior 
hears  will  determine  more  surely  than  any  other 
factor  the  kind  of  heroes  whom  he  will  admire. 
In  these  days,  when  the  moving-picture  story  is 
fashioning  the  heroes  for  the  childhood  of  the  race, 
the  incentive  for  the  teacher  to  tell  hero  stories 
is  stronger  than  ever.  More  and  more  hero  stories 
should  be  told,  stories  which  star  heroes  who  are 
worth  emulating  instead  of  those  who  can  shoot 
the  straightest,  ride  the  swiftest,  or  evade  the 
most  cleverly  the  hungry  lions  in  the  arena.  If 
Bill  Hart  can  shoot,  so  could  Livingstone.  Can 
Douglas  Fairbanks  ride?  So  could  Marcus  Whit- 

141 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


man.  Can  the  cinema  hero  “stop  the  mouths  of 
lions”?  So  could  Samson,  the  hero  of  a  far-off  tale. 

Adventure  interests. — To  the  Junior  every  new 
day  is  an  adventure  in  living,  and  he  likes  it  full 
to  the  brim  of  the  adventurous.  Miss  Cather  sug¬ 
gests  that  the  boys  who  would  play  pirate  and 
brigand  while  they  try  to  avoid  the  watchful  eye 
of  the  policeman  be  given  the  right  kind  of  stories 
of  adventure  that  they  may  in  part  express  these 
instincts  in  the  adventures  of  story  heroes.1 

The  establishment  of  the  kingdom  of  God  upon 
this  earth  is  the  greatest  adventure  upon  which 
the  human  race  has  ever  embarked.  Its  progress 
has  depended  upon  one  great  adventure  after 
another.  Such  adventures  in  Christian  living  are 
being  launched  every  day  in  the  lives  of  men 
and  women,  boys  and  girls.  The  literature  of  the 
church  is  full  of  these  stories,  and  they  are  the 
natural  food  stuff  for  youthful  souls. 

Achievement  interests. — Juniors  like  to  see  re¬ 
sults.  They  applaud  vociferously  the  hero  crowned 
with  success.  What  is  success?  How  is  it  to  be 
measured?  What  kinds  of  achievement  deserve 
our  applause?  At  whose  feet  shall  we  lay  our  laurel 
crowns?  Upon  an  early  recognition  of  just  such 
values  depends  the  whole  character  and  destiny 
of  boys  and  girls.  Achievement  is  splendid,  but  it 
makes  all  the  difference  in  the  world  what  a  man 
desires  and  what  he  achieves. 

Historical  interest. — The  Junior  craves  what  he 
calls  “true”  stories.  This  does  not  mean  that  he 
is  to  be  denied  all  the  great  folk  lore  of  the  past 
in  which  heroes  fought  and  lived  in  a  great  cause. 

i  See  Cather,  Educating  by  Story-Telling ,  p.  33. 

142 


THE  USE  OF  THE  STORY 


King  Arthur  and  his  knights  he  enjoys  because 
they  were  true  to  their  ideals.  The  great  field  of 
biography  is  open  to  the  Junior  teacher,  for  here 
are  “true  stories, ”  and  here  too  are  stories  of 
heroes,  of  adventure  and  of  achievement.  Miss 
Cather2  distinguishes  between  the  biographies  of 
more  or  less  mythical  men  and  women  and  those 
whose  deeds  history  records  with  certainty.  She 
says  that  the  former  stories  are  “true  in  spirit” 
while  the  latter  are  “true  in  fact.”  Both  kinds 
the  Junior  will  hear.  But,  the  church-school  teacher 
will,  perhaps,  find  more  opportunity  to  tell  the 
life  stories  of  men  and  women  who  have  actually 
lived  and  lived  greatly.  A  book  like  Hunting’s 
Stories  of  Brotherhood  furnishes  biographical  material 
of  this  kind. 

TYPES  OF  STORIES  FOR  JUNIORS 

When  we  have  classified  stories  according  to  the 
story  interests  of  childhood,  we  have  given  a  basis 
for  selection  of  story  material  that  will  meet  the 
developing  needs  of  child  nature  between  the  years 
nine  and  eleven.  But  there  still  remains  the  ne¬ 
cessity  of  classifying  them  in  the  groups  which  the 
Junior  teacher  will  be  most  likely  to  use  in  his 
teaching.  Any  good  story  is  suitable  for  telling 
in  any  good  church-school  class.  But  there  are 
certain  types  of  stories  which  will  be  more  likely 
to  meet  the  immediate  aims  of  the  Junior  teacher. 

These  are  Bible  stories,  ethical  stories,  missionary 
stories,  appreciation  stories,  and,  occasionally,  enter¬ 
tainment  stories.  It  will  be  seen  at  a  glance  that 

*  From  Cather 's  Educating  by  Story-Telling,  copyright,  1918,  by  World  Book 
Company,  Yonkers-on-Hudson,  N.  Y. 


143 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


this  classification  is  not  a  very  logical  one,  as  a 
Bible  story  may  be  ethical,  and  an  appreciation 
story  could  be  drawn  from  the  field  of  missionary 
literature  or  some  other  field.  The  classes  are  not 
mutually  exclusive.  But  they  designate  fields  from 
which  the  teacher  is  apt  to  draw  his  story  material. 

Bible  stories. — The  Bible  is  a  great  storybook. 
Its  stories  meet  the  tests  of  good  story-telling. 
They  are  full  of  action;  they  move  swiftly;  they  have 
life-giving  content;  their  heroes  are  ethical  according 
to  the  standards  of  the  times  in  which  they  lived; 
they  are  vivid  stories,  full  of  not-to-be-forgotten 
pictures. 

Yet,  the  Bible  stories  need  to  be  carefully  selected 
and  adapted,  just  as  most  of  the  literature  of  any 
past  race  and  generation  does,  to  meet  the  needs 
of  childhood.  It  is  sometimes  claimed  that  because 
the  Bible  is  the  product  of  a  race  in  its  infancy, 
its  literature  is,  therefore,  suitable  for  youth  to-day. 
It  is  true  that  a  race  in  its  infancy  is  apt  to  pro¬ 
duce  stories  with  certain  essentially  childlike  ele¬ 
ments  which  are  desirable  for  childhood.  But  there 
is  usually  a  vast  range  of  experience  in  any  such 
literature,  and  some  of  it  is  not  and  was  not  written 
for  youth. 

Let  us  remember  that  this  is  just  as  true  of  the 
literature  of  the  Hebrew  people,  and  let  us  reserve 
for  more  mature  years  those  related  experiences  of 
a  great  people  which  only  mature  years  can  com¬ 
prehend,  and  let  us  offer  to  children  the  Joseph 
cycle  and  the  story  of  the  young  man  David  and 
others  which  are  adapted  to  their  needs. 

It  is  claimed  by  many  story-tellers  that  Bible 
stories  should  be  kept,  as  far  as  possible,  in  the 

144 


THE  USE  OF  THE  STORY 


Bible  language,  some  even  insisting  upon  the  King 
James  version.  The  beauty  of  much  of  the  King 
James  version  is  recognized  by  everyone.  But  it 
must  be  remembered  that  it  is  a  language  far  re¬ 
moved  from  the  present  usage  of  children.  There 
seems  to  be  no  more  reason  for  confining  the  telling 
of  Bible  stories  to  an  obsolete  form  of  speech  than 
the  hero  tales  of  any  other  race. 

When  the  literature  of  every  race,  even  the  early 
English  tales,  is  worked  over  and  retold  for  boys 
and  girls,  why  should  they  be  expected  to  enjoy 
the  Bible  stories  in  unfamiliar  words  and  phrases? 
There  seems  to  be  every  reason  why,  for  Juniors, 
who  want  things  to  seem  real  and  vivid,  and  who 
want  the  past  to  seem  like  the  Now  and  the  Here, 
the  stories  of  the  Bible  heroes  should  be  retold  in 
accordance  with  all  the  rules  for  the  retelling  of  all 
the  other  stories  from  the  past,  which  they  are 
hearing  in  school  and  at  the  public  library  story 
hours. 

One  young  woman  confessed  that  the  Bible  had 
never  seemed  like  a  real  book  to  her  because  from 
childhood  she  had  never  been  able  to  get  away 
from  its  obsolete  phraseology.  If  we  can  free  our¬ 
selves  from  our  traditional  ideas  and  feelings  about 
this  great  book,  we  shall  discover  that  the  Bible 
loses  much  of  its  possible  power  for  children  in  the 
realistic  age  just  because  it  does  not  seem  real 
to  them.  It  is  a  pity  that  heroes  and  heroines  so 
very  real  and  human  and  story  situations  so  true 
to  life  in  every  age  should  lose  any  of  their  spiritual 
vitality  because  of  the  form  in  which  they  are  told. 

The  surest  way  to  see  that  the  Junior  will  turn 
to  the  Bible  pages  and  read  the  old  stories  in  the 

145 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


beauty  of  their  original  setting  is  to  tell  them  in 
all  the  vividness  of  the  language  which  is  real  to 
him. 

Another  way  in  which  the  Bible  stories  may  be 
made  more  real  is  by  giving  children  the  “wholes” 
of  Bible  narratives.  We  need  more  short  courses 
in  the  church  school,  where  Juniors  may  start  a 
subject  or  a  life  and  complete  it  while  interest  is 
keen  and  with  a  vision  of  that  subject  or  that  life 
as  a  whole.  Not  many  public  schools  spend  fifty- 
two  or  even  forty  lessons  on  the  biography  of  one 
man.  Yet  many  a  church-school  class  dissects  Paul’s 
life  or  the  life  of  Jesus  thus  minutely  and  in  the 
effort  to  study  every  incident  loses  the  significance 
of  the  life  as  a  whole. 

The  writer,  after  years  in  a  church  school  where 
the  life  of  Jesus  was  taught  in  recurring  cycles, 
and  with  minuteness  of  detail,  graduated  from  col¬ 
lege  and  came  to  the  teaching  of  her  first  class 
with  no  distinct  picture  of  the  life  of  Jesus  as  a 
whole.  One  of  the  first  things  she  did,  after  she 
had  studied  that  life  until  she  knew  it  from  begin¬ 
ning  to  end,  was  to  tell  it  to  her  ten-year-old  girls 
in  four  class-room  periods.  She  will  never  forget 
the  marvelous  interest  those  little  girls  showed  as 
the  Jesus-story  grew  from  Sunday  to  Sunday.  On 
the  last  Sunday,  when  the  story  of  his  death  was 
briefly  told,  with  no  effort  to  work  upon  their  emo¬ 
tions,  but,  rather,  with  studied  attempt  not  to 
make  it  too  gripping,  the  teacher  suddenly  noticed 
that  there  were  tears  in  the  eyes  of  almost  every 
little  girl.  For  the  first  time  in  their  lives  the  Hero 
of  heroes  lived  for  them  as  truly  as  did  all  those 
others  whom  they  loved  and  admired.  They  had 

146 


THE  USE  OF  THE  STORY 


followed  his  life  through  quickly  from  birth  and 
childhood  to  manhood  and  its  sudden  but  glorious 
end,  and  they  felt  the  power  of  it. 

Ethical  stories. — The  Junior  teacher  can  make 
splendid  use  of  those  stories  which  tend  to  develop 
certain  character  traits  and  attitudes.  Sometimes 
there  arises  in  a  class  a  certain  situation  which 
demands  reform.  A  story  may  pave  the  way.  Possi¬ 
bly  some  child  needs  to  be  helped  to  overcome  a 
fault.  Why  not  let  the  well-chosen  story  wield  its 
power?  There  are  books  and  lists3  which  will 
help  the  teacher  discover  such  stories  and  some¬ 
times  a  situation  may  be  saved  by  a  story  instead 
of  by  sterner  or  more  direct  discipline. 

Missionary  stories. — There  is  no  story  the  appeal 
of  which  is  stronger  to  the  average  Junior  than 
that  chosen  from  the  field  of  missionary  heroism. 
Here  are  true  stories,  stories  of  heroes,  of  exploits, 
and  of  adventure.  These  are  no  mythical  tales; 
living  men  and  women  move  through  them.  In 
one  church  school  the  interest  in  the  opening  serv¬ 
ice  of  worship,  which  was  almost  null  and  void, 
was  revived  by  the  introduction  into  the  service 
of  the  five-minute  missionary  story  each  Sunday. 

The  missionary  story  may  be  the  best  kind  of  a 
“conduct”  story,  for  it  is  in  the  lands  where  Chris¬ 
tianity  is  newly  tried  that  one  is  apt  to  see  the  real 
transformation  of  life  and  conduct.  On  the  mission 
field  ideals  of  conduct  are  not  blurred  and  softened 
down.  They  stand  out  sharp  and  clear.  Such 
stories  do  not  need  to  be  saved  for  the  special  mis¬ 
sionary  occasion.  They  may  be  used  in  the  teaching 
of  any  lesson.  After  looking  far  and  wide  and 


3  See  list  at  end  of  this  chapter. 


147 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


failing  to  find  it  elsewhere,  the  Junior  teacher  will 
often  find  in  the  book  of  missionary  heroism,  just 
the  story  which  he  needs. 

Appreciation  stories. — This  class  of  stories  will 
include  a  great  variety  of  other  classifications, 
but  it  deserves  mention  by  itself  because  of  the 
great  value  of  the  method  it  implies.  We  become 
like  that  which  we  love  and  admire.  It  is  because 
the  church  school  is,  above  all  else,  concerned  with 
what  its  children  will  become,  that  it  is  one  of  its 
legitimate  functions  to  cultivate  in  youth  the  power 
of  appreciation. 

The  Junior  teacher  and  superintendent  will  find 
occasion  to  use  a  variety  of  appreciation  stories. 
There  is  the  story  which  leads  to  a  deeper  appre¬ 
ciation  of  some  great  hymn,  or  a  passage  from  the 
Psalms.  Possibly  a  great  picture  of  deep  religious 
significance  is  to  be  studied  and  the  Juniors  will 
need  a  story  to  make  them  feel  its  beauty  and  its 
message.  Sometimes  the  appreciation  story  helps 
the  Junior  to  feel  and  admire  the  fine  qualities  of 
people  of  other  races.  The  more  we  can  build  up 
and  strengthen  the  ability  to  appreciate,  the  more 
sure  we  may  be  of  raising  a  generation  of  happy, 
idealistic  people  who  have  inner  resources  of  spiritual 
enjoyment. 

Entertainment  stories. — There  are  times  when  the 
church-school  teacher  needs  to  know  how  to  tell 
a  story  which  will  merely  make  the  time  pass  pleas¬ 
antly.  The  church  to-day  must  provide  wholesome 
entertainment  for  some  of  the  leisure  hours  of  its 
young  people.  A  church  in  a  small  community 
where  there  was  no  adequate  public  library  ran  a 
summer  story  hour  every  morning  from  ten  to 

148 


THE  USE  OF  THE  STORY 


twelve  for  the  children  who  did  not  go  away  to 
summer  resorts.  Then  there  is  the  occasional  party 
which  the  Junior  Department  is  sure  to  hold  during 
the  year,  when,  after  more  lively  games,  all  settle 
down  for  the  story  hour.  To  learn  how  to  entertain 
helps  one  to  master  the  art  of  teaching. 

WHEN  AND  WHERE  TO  USE  STORIES 

In  the  preceding  paragraphs  it  has  been  inti¬ 
mated  that  there  are  a  number  of  places  in  the 
Junior  Department  where  stories  may  be  used. 
The  Junior  leader  does  well  to  have  a  variety  of 
stories  tucked  up  her  sleeve,  so  that  she  may  pull 
them  out  upon  a  minute’s  notice.  Exigencies  are 
sure  to  arise  and  ability  to  tell  a  good  story  often 
saves  the  day. 

The  story  in  the  service  of  worship. — We  shall 
see  in  the  chapters  on  worship  how  central  a  place 
the  story  holds  in  the  service  of  worship  for  Juniors. 
Since  the  story  sets  forth  the  worship  theme  of 
the  morning,  the  Junior  leader  will  need  to  know 
a  large  number  of  stories  suitable  for  worship. 
She  ought  to  make  herself  familiar  with  many  col¬ 
lections,  keeping  a  record  of  where  each  is  found. 

The  story  in  the  lesson  period. — What  is  true  of 
the  Junior  superintendent  is  also  true  of  the  Junior 
teacher.  Since  the  story  is  so  powerful,  the  teacher 
will  not  only  want  to  know  how  to  tell  the  “lesson 
story,”  but  she  will  want  to  know  a  great  number 
of  other  stories  to  supplement  the  teaching  of  a 
lesson,  illustrating  and  enriching  the  teaching  ma¬ 
terial.  She  too  will  turn  the  pages  of  many  story¬ 
books  and  will,  if  she  can,  save  her  pennies  in  order 
that  she  may  own  a  few  of  the  best  ones.  A  library 

149 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


of  a  half  dozen  well-chosen  story-books  will  make 
the  Junior  teacher’s  lesson  preparation  a  delight. 

The  story  in  the  missionary  program. — We  have 
already  noted  the  power  and  popularity  of  mis¬ 
sionary  stories  with  boys  and  girls.  We  have  noted 
that  these  stories  may  be  used  in  the  teaching  of 
almost  any  lesson  or  in  any  service  of  worship. 
But  they  take  a  central  place  in  the  regular  mis¬ 
sionary  program.  The  Junior  teacher  or  leader 
should  become  familiar  with  the  missionary  literature 
of  the  church.  Here  is  a  worthwhile  reason  for 
joining  a  mission  study  class  or  going  to  a  summer 
conference  of  missionary  education  where  the  teach¬ 
ing  of  missionary  material  is  stressed. 

The  story  in  the  week-day  meeting. — The  kind 
of  a  story  used  in  the  week-day  gathering  of  Juniors 
depends,  of  course,  upon  the  character  of  that 
meeting.  If  it  is  a  social  occasion,  the  stories  will 
be  told  to  entertain.  If  the  week-day  meeting  is 
in  the  form  of  a  Mission  Band,  the  type  of  story 
is  determined.  Possibly  the  Juniors  are  meeting 
to  perform  some  service  activity,  and  the  leader 
will  want  to  tell  a  story  first,  aimed  to  quicken  the 
desire  to  serve,  or  perhaps  to  furnish  information 
about  this  particular  task  they  are  undertaking. 
Possibly  the  story  will  follow  the  work  hour  as  a 
reward  for  concentrated  and  earnest  toil,  and  as 
a  means  of  relaxation. 

The  week-day  group  may  be  the  church-school 
meeting  for  some  specified  part  of  its  religious 
educational  program.  What  part  this  is  will  deter¬ 
mine  the  type  of  story  used.  In  some  cases  the 
Junior  teacher  may  find  it  possible  to  get  the  class 
together  on  a  week  day,  either  occasionally  or 

150 


THE  STORY  IN  THE  SERVICE  OF  WORSHIP 
Juniors  of  the  First  Congregational  Church,  Oak  Park,  Illinois 


THE  USE  OF  THE  STORY 


regularly,  and  may  use  part  of  this  week-day  hour 
for  stories  which  will  strengthen  some  part  of  the 
Sunday  program — stories  for  which  there  is  not 
time  on  Sunday. 

The  story  for  special  occasions. — Sometimes 
stories  for  special  occasions  are  hard  to  find.  Christ¬ 
mas  has  its  wealth  of  literature  and  other  holidays 
are  almost  equally  fortunate,  but  there  are  some 
occasions  for  which  story  material  is  scarce.  The 
teacher  will  find  help  here  by  watching  the  mag¬ 
azines  and  current  periodicals,  especially  the  period¬ 
icals  of  the  church-school  boards.4  The  Junior 
teacher  would  do  well  to  keep  a  story  scrapbook 
and  paste  into  this  any  unusual  stories  which  she 
finds  in  periodical  literature  so  that  she  may  be 
sure  to  have  them  when  Mother's  Day,  or  Clean-Up 
Week,  or  some  other  special  occasion  comes  around. 

SOURCES  OF  STORY  MATERIAL  FOR  JUNIORS 

The  following  bibliography  has  been  made  with 
the  church-school  story-teller  in  mind.  Almost  all 
of  the  stories  need  adaptation  for  telling.  From 
them  the  story-teller  will  select  and  adapt  the 
particular  incidents  which  she  needs  for  her  special 
use.  The  books  which  are  suitable  for  Juniors  to 
read  by  themselves  are  marked  with  an  asterisk. 
Those  not  thus  marked  are  intended  only  for  the 
use  of  the  story-teller.  This  list  does  not  attempt 
to  cover  the  entire  range  of  stories  for  children  of 
the  Junior  age,  but  seeks  only  to  include  the  kind 
of  story  of  which  the  Junior  teacher  in  the  church 
school  will  make  the  largest  use.  A  few  suggestions 

4  Consult  such  magazines  as  The  Church  School,  The  Pilgrim  Elementary  Mag¬ 
azine,  Missionary  Education,  Everyland,  and  others. 

151 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


are  given  as  to  where  to  look  for  stories  in  the  general 
field  of  children’s  story-telling  as  well  as  some  sugges¬ 
tions  of  good  books  and  lists  on  children’s  reading. 

Where  to  Find  Bible  Stories: 

*Hodges — The  Garden  of  Eden. 

*Hodges — The  Castle  of  Zion. 

*  Hodges — When  the  King  Came. 

*Frayser — Followers  of  the  Marked  Trail. 

Houghton — Telling  Bible  Stories. 

*Baldwin — Old  Stories  of  the  East. 

*Baker  and  Baker — The  Bible  in  Graded  Story. 

Olcott — Bible  Stories  to  Read  and  to  Tell. 

Where  to  Find  Ethical  Stories: 

Cabot — Ethics  for  Children. 

Cather — Educating  by  Story-Telling ,  Chapter  XIII. 
(Contains  a  list  of  stories  to  develop  or  stamp  out 
certain  traits  and  instincts.) 

Dadmun — Living  Together. 

*Lambertson — Rules  of  the  Game. 

*Baldwin — American  Book  of  Golden  Deeds. 

*Babbitt — Jataka  Tales. 

Richards — The  Golden  Windows. 

Slosson — Story  Tell  Lib. 

Sneath,  Hodges,  Tweedy — The  King's  Highway  Series. 
Miller — My  Book  House.  Volume  entitled  The  Latch 
Key.  (Consult  ethical  index.) 

Where  to  Find  Stories  for  Special  Occasions: 
Bailey — Stories  for  Every  Holiday. 

Olcott — Good  Stories  for  Great  Holidays. 

*  Dickinson — Children's  Book  of  Christmas  Stories. 
Skinner — Little  Folks'  Christmas  Stories  and  Plays. 
Van  Dyke — The  Other  Wise  Man. 

*Skinner — Emerald  Story  Book  (Spring  and  Easter). 
Slosson — Story  Tell  Lib  (“The  Little  Boy  Who  Was 
Scaret  o’  Dyin’,”  Easter). 


THE  USE  OF  THE  STORY 


Where  to  Find  Hero  Stories: 

*Pyle — The  Story  of  King  Arthur  and  His  Knights. 
*Boutet  de  Monvel — Joan  of  Are. 

*Bolton — Poor  Boys  Who  Became  Famous. 

*Bolton — Girls  Who  Became  Famous. 

*Richards — Florence  Nightingale. 

*Faulkner — Red  Cross  Stories. 

*M  at  hews — Argonauts  of  Faith  (Stories  of  the  Pilgrims). 
*Vail — Heroic  Lives. 

*  Jewett — God's  Troubadour  (St.  Francis  of  Assisi). 

Heroes  of  Industry  and  Peace 

Gould — Heroes  of  Peace. 

Gould — Victors  of  Peace. 

^Hunting — Stories  of  Brotherhood. 

*Baldwin — American  Book  of  Golden  Deeds. 

Grenfell — Adrift  on  an  Ice  Pan. 

*Parkman — Heroes  of  To-day. 

*Parkman — Heroines  of  Service. 

Riis — The  Making  of  an  American. 

Antin — The  Promised  Land. 

Where  to  Find  Missionary  Stories: 

Missionary  Heroes 

*Mendenhall — Livingstone  Hero  Stories. 

*  Mathews — Livingstone  the  Pathfinder. 

*  Pa  ton — The  Story  of  John  G.  Patou. 

*Keith — The  Black-Bearded  Barbarian. 

*Faris — Winning  the  Oregon  Country. 

*Fahs — Uganda's  White  Man-of-Work. 

*Cronk  and  Singmaster — Under  many  Flags. 

Kerr — Children's  Missionary  Story  Sermons. 
*Applegarth — Lamp-Lighters  Across  the  Sea. 
*Brummitt — Brother  Van. 

Seebach -—Martin  of  Mansfield. 

Hutton — Missionary  Program  Material. 

153 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Heroes  of  All  Races 

*McKenzie — African  Adventurers . 

*Ferris — Giovanni ,  Story  of  an  Italian  Boy. 

*Seaman — Americans  All. 

*Ferris — The  Honorable  Crimson  Tree. 

*Here  and  There  Stories  (Woman’s  Board  of  Missions, 
14  Beacon  Street,  Boston,  Mass.) 

*Fahs — Red,  Yellow  and  Black. 

Burton — Comrades  in  Service. 

Speer — Servants  of  the  King. 

*Hubbard — A  Noble  Army. 

Washington — Up  from  Slavery. 

*Brown — Old  Country  Hero  Stories. 

*  Wilson — Goodbird  the  Indian. 

Hutton — Missionary  Program  Material. 

Where  to  Find  Stories  About  Pictures: 

*Chandler — Magic  Pictures  of  Long  Ago. 

*Chandler — More  Magic  Pictures  of  Long  Ago. 

*Bacon — Pictures  That  Every  Child  Should  Know. 

*Dela  Ramee — Child  of  Urbino  (“Bimbi”  Stories). 

Where  to  Find  General  Stories: 

(The  stories  in  this  list  would  be  appropriate  to  tell 
at  children’s  parties.  Some  stories  in  the  other  groups 
would  also  be  suitable.) 

^Harris — Uncle  Remus  Tales. 

*Kipling — Just  So  Stories. 

Quiller  Couch — The  Roll  Call  of  Honor. 

Cather — The  Pigeons  of  Venice  (“Educating  by  Story- 
Telling’’). 

Dadmun — The  Spring  in  the  Sandy  Desert  (from 
“Living  Together’’). 

Cather — The  Duty  That  Was  Not  Paid  (from  “Edu¬ 
cating  by  Story-Telling”). 

Wilson — Myths  of  the  Red  Men, 

154 


THE  USE  OF  THE  STORY 


*LeBlanc — The  Blue  Bird  for  Children. 

Wilde — The  Happy  Prince. 

Olcott — Good  Stories  for  Great  Holidays. 

*Babbitt — Jataka  Tales. 

Griffis — The  Unmannerly  Tiger  and  Other  Tales 
(Korean). 

*Cather — Pan  and  His  Pipes  and  Other  Stories. 

Browning — How  They  Brought  the  Good  News  from 
Ghent  to  Aix. 

Bolton — Poor  Boys  Who  Became  Famous. 

Where  to  Look  for  Story  Lists: 

Esenwein — Children's  Stories  and  How  to  Tell  Them 
(Part  III.  Reading  and  Reference  Lists  Arranged  by 
Ages  and  Topics). 

Cather — Educating  by  Story-Telling  (Lists  under  dif¬ 
ferent  topics.  Also  a  list  of  stories  for  each  month 
of  the  year  for  the  first  eight  years  of  school.  Also 
a  complete  bibliography  of  storybooks.) 

A  list  of  Good  Stories  to  Tell  Children  Under  Twelve 
Years  of  Age,  Carnegie  Library,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

Guides  to  the  Junior’s  Reading: 

The  Book  Shelf  for  Boys  and  Girls ,  published  by  Chil¬ 
dren’s  Department,  Brooklyn  Public  Library.  (Book¬ 
let  of  about  fifty  pages.  Can  be  secured  for  twenty- 
five  cents.) 

Olcott — The  Children's  Reading. 

Field — Finger  Posts  to  Children's  Reading. 

Periodicals  Containing  Stories  for  Children: 

Everyland,  published  by  Missionary  Education  Move¬ 
ment,  150  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 

Pilgrim  Elementary  Teacher ,  Pilgrim  Press,  14  Beacon 
Street,  Boston,  Mass. 

Missionary  Education ,  published  by  Board  of  Sunday 
Schools  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  58 
East  Washington  Street,  Chicago,  Illinois, 

155 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 

John  Martin's  Book ,  John  Martin  Book  House,  33 
West  49th  Street,  New  York. 

The  Story-Teller ,  published  by  The  Story-Teller  Com¬ 
pany,  80  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 

For  Further  Reading : 

Cather — Educating  by  Story  Telling ,  Chapters 
1,  4,  9,  10,  and  12. 


CHAPTER  X 


TELLING  STORIES  TO  JUNIORS 

To  tell  stories  successfully  to  Juniors  requires  a 
mastery  of  the  art  of  story-telling.  The  Junior 
story-teller  must,  first  of  all,  know  how  to  select 
story  material  for  Juniors;  he  must  know  how  to 
work  that  material  over  until  it  is  suited  to  his 
Junior  audience;  he  must  understand  the  simple 
outline  of  a  good  story,  must  know  the  best  way 
to  prepare  his  story  for  telling,  and,  last  of  all, 
must  study  some  of  the  methods  which  will  make 
the  actual  telling  of  his  story  effective. 

THE  ART  OF  STORY-TELLING 

If  the  Junior  teacher  is  to  use  the  story  method, 
what  is  involved?  There  are  a  number  of  steps 
to  be  taken  before  the  story  is  ever  ready  for  the 
telling.  Real  preparation  to  tell  the  story  begins 
long  before  the  story-teller  sits  down  with  his 
story  to  make  it  his  own.  For  he  must  decide 
which  story,  of  all  the  wealth  of  stories,  is  the  best 
one  to  tell.  What  is  a  “good”  story?  How  does 
the  story-teller  go  to  work  to  prepare  a  story  for 
telling?  What  are  the  most  effective  ways  of  telling 
stories? 

How  to  know  a  good  story. — All  stories  are  not 
good  for  all  children  and  stories  are  not  good  simply 
because  they  are  found  in  a  church-school  textbook. 
In  selecting  a  story  the  first  question  to  ask  is, 

157 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


“Does  it  meet  the  Junior’s  story  interests?”  Possi¬ 
bly  it  is  too  simple  for  him  and  more  suited  to  the 
Primary  child.  Possibly  it  is  too  old  for  him  and 
will  mean  a  great  deal  more  to  him  if  it  is  saved 
until  he  arrives  at  the  romantic  age.  Let  us  not 
spoil  the  work  of  the  story-teller  during  the  adoles¬ 
cent  period  by  using  material  which  belongs  to 
him,  for  there  is  a  wealth  of  story  literature  which 
is  suitable  for  the  Junior  alone. 

But  it  is  not  enough  that  the  story  should  meet 
the  Junior’s  interests.  It  is  conceivable  that  it 
might  do  that  and  still  not  be  a  “good”  story  for 
him  to  hear.  There  are  adventure  stories  which 
are  purely  adventurous  and  sacrifice  reality  to  be  so. 
There  are  hero  stories  which  star  the  wrong  kind 
of  a  hero.  There  are  stories  of  achievements  which 
are  far  from  enviable.  There  is  a  difference  some¬ 
times  between  “what  is  good  taste  and  what  tastes 
good.”  The  truly  good  story  always  has  a  life- 
giving  content.  Some  stories  are  not  worth  the 
time  spent  upon  them  because  the  truths  they 
contain  are  not  great  or  stimulating  enough  for  the 
eager  minds  of  children.  Is  the  story  we  are  going 
to  tell  such  that  the  Junior’s  imagination  will  be 
“captured  by  goodness”? 

The  story  should  be  true  to  life,  not  exaggerated. 
The  trouble  with  many  stories  seen  on  the  screen 
is  that  the  situations  in  them  are  unreal  and  exag¬ 
gerated.  They  give  children  an  untrue  idea  of 
life,  a  wrong  perspective.  Even  a  fairy  tale  must 
be  true  to  the  laws  of  life  as  it  is  lived  in  fairyland. 
For  Juniors,  as  for  all  other  children,  the  story 
should  “ring  true.” 

Last  of  all,  the  literary  quality  of  the  story  should 

158 


TELLING  STORIES  TO  JUNIORS 


be  of  the  best.  To  judge  of  this  quality,  some  books 
on  story-writing  and  telling  will  help.  If  one  has 
not  a  clear  judgment  on  this,  one  must  rely  upon 
the  opinion  of  those  who  have  studied  this  subject 
and  who  know.  The  story  which  is  a  “good  telling 
story”  is  full  of  action;  it  moves  along  swiftly,  unim¬ 
peded  by  much  description  or  any  unnecessary 
detail.  It  leaves  much  to  the  imagination  of  child¬ 
hood  and  children  are  quick  to  fill  in  the  suggested 
picture  with  quick  strokes  of  the  brush.  The  good 
story  is  full  of  real  but  dramatic  situations;  it  holds 
the  interest  by  well-sustained  suspense.  It  is 
beautiful  in  its  imagery,  its  ideas,  and  its  language. 

How  to  tell  a  good  story. — The  second  essential 
in  the  art  of  the  story-teller,  after  learning  how  to 
recognize  a  good  story,  is,  how  to  tell  a  good  story. 
And  the  process  of  story-telling  begins  with  out¬ 
lining  the  story  so  that  the  story-teller  first  of  all 
and  then  his  audience  may  see  it  clearly  and  love 
its  pictures. 

OUTLINING  THE  STORY 

It  will  be  a  great  help  to  the  Junior  story-teller 
if  he  forms  the  habit  of  making  story  outlines,  at 
least  until  he  has  acquired  ability  as  a  story-teller. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  even  the  greatest  artists 
ever  get  away  from  some  analysis  of  their  material, 
though  years  of  practice  may  enable  them  to  do  it 
in  a  less  mechanical  way  than  at  the  beginning. 
The  amateur  can  afford  to  take  a  paper  and  pencil 
and  note  the  various  scenes  in  his  story  from  begin¬ 
ning  to  end. 

First,  he  will  decide  what  is  the  special  message 
of  this  story  and  write  out  its  theme.  This  will 

159 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


be  very  simple  and  uninvolved  if  it  is  a  good  story 
and  has  unity  of  thought  and  action.  What  is  the 
central  message  of  this  particular  story?  Then 
follows  the  story  outline.  Of  course  this  outline 
is  merely  for  the  teacher’s  help  in  preparation. 
After  the  story  has  been  mastered,  the  outline  as 
it  appears  on  paper  should  be  quite  forgotten. 

A  good  beginning. — The  first  element  in  the 
story  outline  is  a  good  beginning.  The  child’s 
interest  must  be  caught  with  the  opening  words. 
What  is  a  good  beginning?  Some  one  has  suggested 
that  a  good  beginning  is  one  that  begins  at  once. 
This  means  that  our  Junior  wants  to  get  into  the 
action  of  the  story  with  the  very  first  sentences. 
No  long  introduction*  or  detailed  explanations  or 
descriptions  are  tolerated  by  childhood.  “On  with 
the  play”  is  the  cry. 

Miss  Slattery  tells  of  once  trying  to  discover 
from  a  group  of  public-school  children,  who  had 
been  having  a  series  of  story  afternoons,  what 
stories  they  liked  best  and  why.  One  child  said 
that  he  liked  the  “stories  that  began  in  the  middle.” 
Upon  closer  questioning,  it  appeared  that  he  had 
in  mind  a  story  which  began  something  like  this, 
“It  was  nine  o’clock,  and  Jean  was  hurrying  down 
the  street.”  Let  the  action  start  with  the  first 
words  and  sometimes  let  the  action  start  “in  the 
middle.” 

Do  you  remember  how  quickly  the  action  starts 
in  the  story  of  Gideon?  “Gideon  was  beating  out 
wheat  in  the  winepress  to  hide  it  from  [his  enemies] 
the  Midianites.”  Then  the  angel  appears  and 
startles  Gideon,  as  well  as  any  group  of  listeners, 
with  his  abrupt  salutation,  “The  Lord  is  with  thee, 

160 


TELLING  STORIES  TO  JUNIORS 


thou  mighty  man  of  valor.”  The  story-teller  who 
feels  that  perhaps  the  story  of  Gideon  is  too  fa¬ 
miliar  to  his  audience  may  disregard  this  very  fine 
beginning  and  plunge  further  into  the  middle  of 
the  story.  He  may  commence,  “He  was  standing 
at  the  door  of  his  tent  and  his  army  lay  encamped 
before  him.  Over  the  hills  the  day  before  had 
swarmed  the  Midianites,  the  enemies  of  his  people, 
and  they  came  in  as  locusts  for  multitude.”  To 
begin  farther  into  “the  middle”  of  certain  familiar 
Bible  tales  will  often  arouse  and  hold  the  interest 
of  Juniors. 

A  good  beginning  should  not  only  start  the  action 
immediately  but  it  should,  in  a  few  sentences,  give 
the  setting  of  the  story  so  that  the  background 
against  which  the  characters  move  is  perfectly  clear. 

Then  the  first  sentences  should  stir  the  imagina¬ 
tion  so  that  the  mind  leaps  forward  with  antici¬ 
pation  to  hear  what  becomes  of  the  hero  or  what 
is  to  happen  next.  The  beginning  must  make  us 
want  to  know  the  end.  In  the  Gideon  story  the 
mind  is  aroused  at  once.  Why  was  Gideon  thresh¬ 
ing  in  the  winepress?  Why  must  he  hide  from  the 
Midianites?  Why  did  the  angel  say,  “The  Lord 
is  with  thee,  thou  mighty  man  of  valor”?  We  are 
immediately  concerned  to  find  out  these  things 
and  to  know  what  comes  of  them. 

A  simple,  direct  plot. — The  plot  is  that  tying  up 
of  the  action,  that  presentation  of  a  series  of  actions 
or  incidents  which  become  more  and  more  involved, 
until  they  are  suddenly  cleared  away  at  the  climax 
of  the  story.  Children’s  stories  must  have  very 
simple  plots.  In  order  that  there  may  be  suspense, 
the  hero,  of  course,  must  meet  with  some  obstacles, 

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JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


some  situations  must  need  clearing  up,  some  struggle 
with  circumstances  or  with  the  inner  desires  must 
take  place.  But  the  story-teller  must  decide  just 
what  events  are  those  which  will  be  necessary  to 
the  main  thought  and  action  of  the  story.  Omit 
any  incidents  or  details  which  do  not  carry  the 
action  forward  or  add  to  the  meaning  of  the  story. 
See  that  the  action  moves  swiftly.  Do  not  bring 
in  any  detail,  however  interesting  in  itself,  if  it  is 
not  essential  to  the  meaning  of  the  story;  it  will  only 
divert  the  interest  from  the  main  plot  of  the  story. 

A  strong  climax. — The  climax  is  the  high  point 
of  the  story.  Here  interest  culminates.  All  through 
the  good  story  there  have  been  various  crises  each 
of  which  leaves  the  listener  in  suspense,  filled  with 
wonder  as  to  whether  the  hero  will  be  victorious. 
In  the  good  tale  the  promise  of  victory  alternates 
cleverly  with  possibility  of  defeat,  until  the  listener, 
at  the  point  of  the  climax,  is  breathless  with  desire 
to  know  how  it  will  all  come  out.  At  the  climax 
victory  comes,  situations  are  cleared  up,  the  struggle 
is  over. 

A  convincing  end. — When  victory  comes  and  the 
struggle  is  over,  so  is  the  story.  If  a  good  story 
begins  at  the  beginning,  it  ends  with  the  end  of 
the  action.  If  it  is  a  good  story,  it  does  not  need 
any  appended  word  of  explanation  or  any  further 
development  of  its  meaning.  Such  afterthoughts  only 
mean  an  anti-climax  and  possibly  moral  confusion. 

PREPARING  THE  STORY  FOR  TELLING 

The  outlining  of  the  story  is,  of  course,  the  first 
step  by  way  of  preparation.  But  after  that  comes 
the  actual  working  over  of  the  story  until  it  be- 

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TELLING  STORIES  TO  JUNIORS 


comes  the  possession  of  the  story-teller  and  it  is 
his  to  hand  on  to  others.  These  steps  of  prepara¬ 
tion  may  be  called  seeing  the  story,  feeling  the 
story,  adapting  the  story,  practicing  the  story, 
and  living  the  story. 

Seeing  the  story. — It  is  almost  trite  to  say  that 
the  story-teller  must  first  see  his  story  before  he 
can  make  others  see  it,  but,  like  many  really  mean¬ 
ingful  words,  it  needs  to  be  said  often.  This  process 
of  seeing  the  story  eliminates  haste  in  preparation. 
It  means  real  study  of  the  background  of  the  story, 
its  main  pictures,  until  its  atmosphere  is  as  real 
to  the  story-teller  as  that  in  which  he  lives  and 
moves.  He  must  live  and  move  in  the  world  of 
his  story,  and  then  he  will  be  able  to  transport 
his  Juniors  on  a  sort  of  Aladdin’s  carpet  to  that 
same  story  world.  It  is  particularly  necessary  for 
teachers  to  visualize  the  background  of  Bible  stories, 
and  this  means  that  teachers  must  know  that 
background  through  reading  books  and  studying 
courses  which  will  make  the  setting  of  the  Bible 
stories  as  real  to  them  as  stories  taken  from  Amer¬ 
ican  history. 

Feeling  the  story. — It  is  not  only  essential  to  see 
vividly  the  pictures  of  the  story  and  the  actors 
in  it.  The  story-teller  must  also  feel  the  story 
atmosphere.  Writers  on  story-telling  claim  that 
no  one  should  ever  attempt  to  tell  a  story  unless 
it  appeals  to  him,  unless  he  loves  it  so  much  and 
enters  so  sympathetically  into  its  mood  that  he 
wants,  above  everything  else,  to  share  its  meaning 
with  some  one  else.  Certainly,  one  must  feel  the 
beauty  or  power  of  the  story  before  one  can  make 
a  group  of  children  enter  into  its  meaning. 

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JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


The  question  for  the  teacher  or  story-teller  to 
face,  then,  is,  “Are  you  gripped  by  the  meaning 
of  the  story  you  are  to  tell?”  Unless  you  are, 
unless  you  can  identify  yourself  with  the  thought 
and  feelings  of  the  story,  you  cannot  be  sincere  in 
telling  it.  And  children  are  quick  to  detect  insin¬ 
cerity  of  any  kind.  Every  teacher  may  well  ask 
himself,  “Does  next  Sunday’s  lesson  story  grip  me?” 
If  it  does  not,  how,  then,  can  I  teach  it? 

Adapting  the  story. — Some  stories  must  be 
adapted  before  they  can  be  told.  If  the  story  is 
too  long,  it  must  be  shortened,  for  brevity  is  the 
soul  of  story-telling.  If  the  story  is  too  meager, 
it  must  be  expanded.  While  too  many  details  are 
an  encumbrance  to  the  movement  of  the  tale,  too 
few  details  mar  its  effectiveness.  There  must  be 
enough  detail  to  stir  the  imagination,  and  to  make 
the  background  of  the  story  familiar  to  the  child. 

By  comparing  the  story  to  be  told  with  the  out¬ 
line  of  a  good  story 1  one  can  tell  whether  it  needs 
adaptation  of  structure.  Sometimes,  to  bring  out 
one  point,  certain  incidents  will  be  emphasized 
and  others  slighted  or  omitted.  If  the  story  is  told 
to  bring  out  another  point,  there  will  be  need  for 
a  rearrangement  of  scenes.  Sometimes  the  lan¬ 
guage  will  need  to  be  changed.  This  does  not 
mean  to  make  the  language  any  less  beautiful,  but 
for  the  purposes  of  vividness  some  old  tales  need 
a  phraseology  nearer  to  the  child’s  own  daily  expe¬ 
rience.  Language  does  not  need  to  be  changed 
just  because  it  is  old,  only  when  its  unfamiliarity 
fails  to  make  the  pictures  vivid  to  the  child.  Many 
stories,  the  plots  and  ideas  of  which  are  good,  lack 


1  See  pp.  159-162. 


164 


TELLING  STORIES  TO  JUNIORS 


vividness  as  we  find  them  on  the  printed  page 
because  there  is  not  sufficient  vividness  of  style. 

The  discourse  may  need  to  be  changed  from 
indirect  to  direct  form,  so  that  the  characters  talk 
to  each  other.  The  story  may  simply  give  actions 
with  no  word  pictures  to  stimulate  the  imagination. 
In  all  of  these  ways  the  story-teller  may  have  to 
enrich  and  reorganize  his  stories.  However,  it  is 
not  necessary  to  adapt  all  stories.  Many  of  them 
could  not  be  improved;  they  come  to  us  in  perfect 
form  for  telling. 

Practicing  the  story. — Most  amateurs  are  afraid 
to  rehearse  their  stories.  They  grow  self-conscious 
at  the  thought.  Yet  many  a  story  fails  to  grip 
children  just  because  the  one  telling  it  has  not 
practiced  it  until  he  knows  it  so  thoroughly  that 
it  is  his  own.  Practice  is  nine  tenths  of  the  secret 
of  good  story-telling.  This  point  of  thoroughly 
mastering  the  story  cannot  be  overemphasized. 

It  is  not  enough  to  think  that  by  going  over  the 
story  silently  many  times  we  have  mastered  it. 
We  have  not  mastered  it  until  we  have  heard  the 
sound  of  our  own  voices.  It  is  often  surprising  to 
find  that  though  we  think  we  know  a  story  very 
well,  when  we  come  to  say  it  aloud,  we  have  to 
pause  and  hesitate.  He  who  hesitates  in  the  telling 
of  a  story  is  lost. 

Behind  closed  doors,  standing  as  though  facing 
one’s  group,  imagining  that  eager  group  before  one, 
the  story-teller  should  say  his  story  aloud  with  all 
the  vividness  and  charm  he  can  command.  And 
not  only  once  should  this  be  done,  but  several 
times,  until  one  feels  confidence  and  ease  in  the 
sense  of  mastery. 

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JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Living  the  story. — When  we  spoke  of  feeling 
the  story,  we  mentioned  the  fact  that  the  story¬ 
teller  must  like  and  enter  into  the  mood  of  his 
story  if  he  is  to  tell  it  well.  This  is  not  an  excuse 
for  not  telling  certain  great  stories;  it  is  a  challenge 
to  the  teacher  to  bring  himself  up  to  the  fine  mood 
of  the  story.  Has  the  lesson  story  gripped  us? 
If  not,  let  us  not  discard  it,  but,  rather,  let  us 
seek  to  live  its  truth  in  our  own  lives.  It  is  true 
that  we  cannot  lead  where  we  have  not  first  followed. 
We  must  know  the  trail  before  we  act  as  guides. 

Here  is  one  of  the  greatest  incentives  a  teacher 
has  for  enriching  his  personality  and  for  living 
greatly.  Dr.  Esenwein  says,  “He  should  kindle 
the  flame  in  his  own  life  before  he  attempts  to  pass 
on  the  torch.”2  So  let  the  teacher  or  leader  live 
with  the  story  he  is  to  tell,  live  with  it  until  he  has 
made  its  greatness  his  own;  let  him  not  only  live 
with  it  but  live  it. 

TELLING  THE  STORY 

The  person  who  would  like  to  become  a  really 
excellent  story-teller  must  do  more  than  read  one 
or  two  chapters  on  story-telling.  He  ought  to  go 
into  the  study  of  the  art  with  greater  thoroughness 
than  is  possible  in  a  general  course  on  methods. 
Even  though  this  is  not  possible  for  all,  yet  one  can 
learn  a  few  of  the  most  essential  and  simple  rules 
of  story-telling  and  begin  by  practicing  them 
conscientiously  whenever  one  has  an  opportunity. 
Professor  St.  John  speaks  of  some  of  these  rules  as 
“tricks  of  the  story-teller’s  trade.”3  Let  us  see 

2  Esenwein,  Children's  Stories  and  How  to  Tell  Them,  Home  Correspondence 
School,  Springfield,  Mass. 

3  St.  John,  Stories  and  Story  Telling,  Chapter  VI.  Pilgrim  Press. 

1 66 


TELLING  STORIES  TO  JUNIORS 


what  a  few  of  them  are  and  how  we  can  apply 
them. 

The  attitude  of  the  story-teller. — Beginners  often 
do  not  realize  how  important  is  the  attitude  of  the 
story-teller.  If  the  one  telling  a  story  is  full  of 
its  meaning,  his  attitude  is  apt  to  be  what  it  ought 
to  be,  full  of  animation  and  evident  delight.  En¬ 
joyment  kindles  enjoyment  in  others.  But  this 
enjoyment  must  be  sincere.  A  forced  vivacity  is 
quickly  discernible  and  distasteful  to  children. 
Animation  does  not  mean  restlessness,  constant 
moving  of  the  body.  The  story-teller  should  culti¬ 
vate  poise;  not  stiffness,  but  a  quiet  manner. 

Do  not  make  movements  with  any  part  of  your 
body,  except  to  change  the  position  occasionally 
or  to  make  a  gesture  which  helps  out  the  telling 
of  the  tale.  Sometimes  a  person  acquires  habits 
of  posture  which  greatly  detract  from  the  power  of 
his  story  telling,  but  of  which  he  is  utterly  uncon¬ 
scious.  Any  mannerisms  which  are  at  all  notice¬ 
able  will  rivet  the  attention  of  Juniors  upon  the 
story-teller’s  peculiarities  instead  of  upon  the  story. 

Make  actions  predominant. — Remember,  all 
through  the  telling  of  a  story,  to  make  the  actions 
predominant  rather  than  descriptions.  It  should 
not  be  necessary  to  describe  the  hero  in  a  good 
story.  Let  his  actions  tell  what  he  is.  The  Junior 
will  have  “action,  good  or  bad.”  The  secret  of 
character-painting  is  to  make  the  characters  vivid 
through  their  activity. 

Use  direct  discourse. — This  is  one  of  the  simplest 
devices  of  good  story-telling  and  one  most  imme¬ 
diately  productive  of  results.  See  how  lagging 
interest  revives  when  the  characters  in  the  story 

167 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


begin  to  talk  directly  to  each  other!  Take  any  of 
the  stories  which  Jesus  told,  such  as  the  Parable 
of  the  Prodigal  Son,  and  see  how  they  are  master¬ 
pieces  in  this  respect.  Take  one  of  those  stories 
and  turn  it  into  indirect  discourse  and  see  how  it 
loses  its  vividness  and  power  to  hold  attention. 

Use  concrete  terms. — We  have  said  repeatedly  in 
these  pages  that  for  the  Junior,  ideals  and  concepts 
grow  out  of  concrete  images.  The  Junior  under¬ 
stands  the  concrete,  where  abstractions  have  little 
meaning  to  him.  What  people  do  he  comprehends. 
How  they  feel  when  they  are  doing  it  or  how  others 
felt  when  they  saw  him  doing  it,  do  not  interest 
the  average  child. 

Employ  variety. — Interest  in  the  story  is  pre¬ 
served  by  some  very  simple  devices  of  manner  and 
voice.  A  change  in  the  speaking  tone  from  loud 
to  low,  from  fast  to  slow,  or  vice  versa,  will  often 
bring  back  wandering  attention.  Merely  a  change 
in  inflection  will  put  new  meaning  into  a  story. 
Suddenly  to  drop  the  voice  from  a  high  to  a  low 
pitch  will  immediately  create  the  impression  that 
something  is  going  to  happen.  The  effect  of  a 
pause  is  much  the  same.  The  story-teller  pauses, 
and  his  listeners  wait  with  suspense  to  hear  what 
is  coming.  Such  pauses  should  come  where  the 
action  is  critical,  so  that  the  audience  may  not  be 
disappointed  in  what  follows  the  pause. 

Avoid  moralizing. — It  seems  unnecessary  to  say 
this,  for  all  books  on  story-telling  for  years  have 
moralized  on  the  bad  effects  of  moralizing.  Per¬ 
haps  teachers  of  religion  need  this  caution  more 
than  others  because  they  are  chiefly  concerned 
with  morals  and  conduct  and  so  much  of  the  teach- 

168 


TELLING  STORIES  TO  JUNIORS 


ing  method  of  the  past  has  led  the  teacher  to  direct 
the  process  of  truth  finding  instead  of  letting  the 
child  discover  truth  for  himself.  The  Carnegie 
Library,  Pittsburgh,  says,  “Avoid  moralizing,  for 
if  a  story  is  good  enough  to  tell,  it  will  do  its  own 
teaching.  ”  And  it  is  easy  to  see  that  if  a  story  has 
a  great  message  of  beauty  and  power,  that  message 
will  pervade  the  entire  story.  If  one  must  explain 
the  message  at  the  end,  then  the  story  has  no  mes¬ 
sage  and  does  not  deserve  telling. 

Be  full  of  the  meaning  of  the  story. — In  studying 
the  technique  of  any  art  the  student  may  become 
so  conscious  of  his  technique  that  he  loses  the 
power  of  the  artist.  True  art  is  where  technique 
is  merely  the  form  which  expression  takes  to  give 
out  a  great  idea.  When  the  story  has  been  outlined 
and  prepared  and  practiced  in  accordance  with  the 
rules  of  good  story-telling,  then  the  story-teller 
wants  to  forget  the  mechanics  of  the  art  and  give 
himself  up  to  the  meaning  of  his  story.  Then  let 
nothing  come  between  him  and  the  group  of  waiting 
children  for  whom  the  story  is  to  be  the  door  into  a 
world  of  beauty,  of  delight,  and  of  lasting  idealism. 

For  Further  Reading : 

Esenwein — Children’s  Stories  and  How  to  Tell 
Them. 

Cather — Educating  by  Story-Telling. 

St.  John — Stories  and  Story-Telling. 

Bryant — How  to  Tell  Stories  to  Children. 

Shedlock — The  Art  of  the  Story-Teller. 

Lyman — Story-Telling ,  What  to  Tell  and  How  to 
Tell  It. 

Houghton — Telling  Bible  Stories. 

MacClintock — Literature  in  the  Elementary  Schools. 

169 


CHAPTER  XI 


EDUCATING  JUNIORS  THROUGH 

WORSHIP 

The  possibilities  of  worship  as  a  factor  in  reli¬ 
gious  education  have  been  overlooked  by  many 
who  are  actually  engaged  in  the  educational  task 
in  our  churches.  In  some  church  schools  there  is 
singing  of  songs,  praying  of  prayers,  reading  of 
Scripture,  and  more  singing  of  songs — but  no  wor¬ 
ship.  This  is  not  a  harsh  or  unjust  criticism.  A 
comparison  between  the  opening  services  in  the 
church  school  and  the  service  of  worship  for  the 
adult  congregation  in  the  same  church  will  reveal 
how  often  the  form  or  spirit  of  worship  is  lacking 
in  much  of  the  program  known  as  the  opening  or 
closing  “exercises.” 

The  program  of  worship  is  of  vital  concern  to 
every  teacher  in  a  church  school  as  well  as  to  the 
one  who  is  selected  to  lead  the  worship.  Let  us 
who  are  teachers  pause  a  moment  in  our  thinking 
and  recall  our  own  great  moments  of  worship — 
those  times  when  we  felt  an  outgoing  of  our  whole 
selves  toward  God  and  felt  too  that  he  was  coming 
to  meet  us  in  that  experience.  Then  let  us  imagine 
our  own  Juniors  having  some  such  feeling  Sunday 
after  Sunday  as  they  meet  for  worship.  In  the 
school  where  there  is  such  real  worship,  the  task 
of  the  teacher  is  infinitely  easier,  from  the  point  of 
view  of  discipline  and  of  the  preservation  of  his 
teaching  values. 


170 


EDUCATING  JUNIORS  THROUGH  WORSHIP 


If  we  can  bring  into  every  service  of  worship 
in  the  church  school  these  same  qualities  which 
make  life’s  most  worshipful  moments  so  uplifting, 
we  have  solved  the  problem  of  worship.  In  order 
that  we  may  understand  how  to  make  worship  a 
real  experience  to  Juniors,  let  us  ask  ourselves 
three  questions.  What  is  worship?  This  will  tell 
us  what  happens  to  one  in  an  act  of  worship.  What 
is  worship  for?  This  will  unfold  the  aims  of  wor¬ 
ship.  How  do  Juniors  worship?  This  will  help  us 
to  see  our  problem  concretely. 

WHAT  IS  WORSHIP? 

In  the  little  that  has  been  written  on  the  sub¬ 
ject  of  worship  there  is  quite  a  variety  of  opinion 
as  to  what  worship  really  is.  All  agree  on  some 
elements  in  worship,  but  some  stress  one  aspect 
of  it;  others,  another.  Perhaps,  if  we  can  again 
recall  our  most  worshipful  moments  and  try  to 
think  of  just  how  we  felt,  we  might  agree  that 
three  definite  things  occur  whenever  a  soul  is  truly 
worshiping. 

First  of  all,  there  is  an  outreaching  of  the  self  toward 
God ,  a  feeling  of  comradeship,  or  some  have  called 
it  “communion’’  with  him.  There  is  a  reciprocal 
element  in  this,  for  as  we  reach  out  toward  him 
we  also  feel  that  he  draws  near  to  us.  Then,  in 
such  worshipful  moments  there  is  some  thinking 
about  things  which  concern  God  and  ourselves.  In 
some  moments  of  worship  this  thinking  is  stronger 
than  in  others.  And  there  is,  in  the  third  place, 
“ some  attitude  toward  these  things  definitely  taken.1’1 

1  Schloerb,  Rolland  W.,  The  Meaning  and  Function  of  Worship  in  American 
Protestantism.  M.  A.  Thesis,  Northwestern  University,  1921. 

171 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


That  is,  we  have  a  decided  feeling  toward  God  and 
the  things  in  which  he  and  we  are  both  interested. 

Such  a  definition  of  worship  will  mean  more  to 
us  if,  instead  of  being  satisfied  with  answering  the 
question,  “What  is  worship?”  in  one  or  two  sentences, 
we  try  to  discover  more  in  detail  what  is  going 
on  when  a  person  is  worshiping. 

Worship  includes  emotion,  thought,  and  action. 
— As  we  think  of  those  moments  when  we  have 
most  truly  worshiped  and  have  had  the  assurance 
that  God  was  near,  we  recognize  that  our  emotions 
were  predominant.  However,  that  outreach  of  the 
soul  toward  God  is  an  act  which  includes  both 
thought  and  emotion.  If  we  feel  deeply,  the  tend¬ 
ency  is,  also,  to  do  something  about  it.  Our  feeling 
of  appreciation  or  affection  for  a  friend  prompts  us 
to  do  something  for  him.  So  when  we  realize  God 
to  be  our  Friend  we  are  stirred  to  go  out  and  share 
his  work  with  him.  In  this  way  worship  touches 
the  will . 

But  our  feeling  toward  God  would  not  be  very 
deep  or  permanently  satisfying  if  it  were  not  based 
on  some  rather  clear  thinking  about  him.  Our 
appreciations  of  our  friends  rest  upon  definite  ideas 
as  to  what  they  are  like  and  why  they  are  worthy 
of  our  friendship.  So  in  worship  there  must  be 
some  clear  thinking  about  God  and  our  relations  to 
him  if  our  attitude  toward  him  is  to  be  a  perfect 
one.  Worship,  then,  includes  thought,  emotion, 
and  will — the  entire  personality  of  the  worshiper. 

Worship  is  dominantly  emotional. — It  is  impor¬ 
tant  for  the  purposes  of  planning  worship  to  grasp 
certainly  the  idea  that  in  worship  the  attitude  of 
the  mind  is  the  important  thing.  Other  parts  of 

172 


EDUCATING  JUNIORS  THROUGH  WORSHIP 


the  educational  program  may  stress  the  acquisition 
of  ideas  or  provide  for  the  expression  of  attitudes 
in  everyday  living,  but  worship  touches  ideas  with 
emotional  power  and  creates  a  sense  of  their  worth¬ 
whileness.  Many  a  program  entitled  “Worship” 
may  have  a  large  informational  element  in  it.  It 
is  necessary,  especially  for  children  whose  thought- 
life  is  not  well  organized,  to  set  up  certain  very 
definite  ideas  in  the  service  of  worship — ideas 
around  which  the  feelings  may  play.  But  the 
presenting  of  those  ideas  is  not  for  the  sake  of 
giving  new  ideas  but  for  the  purpose  of  creating  in 
the  worshiper  desirable  attitudes  toward  God  and 
others. 


WHAT  IS  WORSHIP  FOR? 

Once  we  have  a  picture  of  what  is  taking  place 
in  the  mind  of  the  worshiper,  we  can  ask  ourselves, 
“What,  then,  ought  worship  to  do  for  him?”  Or, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  those  of  us  who  are  respon¬ 
sible  for  planning  worship  for  children,  “What 
are  the  aims  of  worship?”  Although  some  of  the 
following  aims  overlap  each  other,  we  may  con¬ 
clude  that  worship  should  aim  to  accomplish  four 
definite  tasks: 

1.  To  make  real  the  sense  of  companionship  with 
God. 

2.  To  convince  one  of  the  worth  and  the  ultimate 
victory  of  high  ideals. 

3.  To  give  dynamic  to  desirable  attitudes. 

4.  To  afford  training  in  worship. 

To  make  real  the  sense  of  companionship  with 
God. — This  function  of  worship  is  so  fundamental 
that  all  the  other  aims  find  their  beginning  or  their 

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JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


end  in  it.  To  make  real  and  to  render  permanent 
the  consciousness  of  God  as  a  Father  and  a  Friend 
and  a  sense  of  comradeship  with  him — this  is  the 
chief  end  of  worship.  It  is  notable  that  religious 
teachings  which  are  making  a  strong  appeal  to  men 
and  women  to-day  are  those  which  make  them 
feel  that  God  envelops  them  with  love  and  power 
and  health.  This  surety  that  God  cares  is  the 
birthright  of  every  child.  Worship  should  be  so 
planned  that  it  will  make  possible  for  boys  and 
girls  this  God-consciousness  which  gives  purpose 
to  living  and  produces  an  inner  harmony  in  the 
midst  of  all  the  complexities  of  modern  life.  We 
need  to  make  God’s  presence  so  real,  so  concrete, 
so  clearly  sensed,  that  they  will  naturally  turn  to 
God  for  help  and  for  guidance.  His  Fatherhood 
must  not  be  a  far-away,  remote  possibility.  Per¬ 
haps  the  added  word  “Friend”  will  help  open  up 
to  boys  and  girls  the  sense  of  comradeship  with 
him  in  the  joint  task  of  living. 

To  convince  one  of  the  worth  and  the  ultimate 
victory  of  ideals. — If  people  could  clearly  and  con¬ 
tinuously  see  or  feel  the  value  of  high  ideals,  their 
conduct  would  be  ideal.  But  this  sense  of  value  is 
a  flickering  thing;  it  grows  bright  and  again  it  is 
dim.  Psychology  tells  us  that  when  an  idea  takes 
on  dynamic  quality  it  produces  in  the  person  a  sense 
of  its  value.  We  may  be  assured  that  gratitude 
to  our  heavenly  Father  is  a  desirable  attitude. 
We  may  assent  to  the  idea,  but  such  assent  is  a 
vastly  different  thing  from  really  feeling  grateful 
to  him. 

To  keep  alive  an  appreciation  of  our  highest 
ideals  requires  moments  of  uplift  such  as  worship 

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THE  PRAYER  IN  THE  SERVICE  OF  WORSHIP 


1  S  |HIII  I  I 


EDUCATING  JUNIORS  THROUGH  WORSHIP 


affords.  In  the  rush  of  present-day  living,  such 
occasions  for  uplift  are  all  too  few.  In  the  late 
afternoon  a  group  of  boys  at  a  summer  camp  climbed 
a  high  place  overlooking  the  valley  and  the  hills 
below.  The  sun  brought  out  in  sharp  relief  every 
hollow,  every  curving  hill,  every  patch  of  woods. 
In  the  impressive  silence  which  fell  upon  the  group, 
one  boy  exclaimed,  “Wouldn’t  it  be  great  if  our 
lives  could  stand  the  test  of  eternity  as  these  hills 
and  valleys  stand  the  light  of  the  sun?”  Without 
stained-glass  windows,  organ  music,  or  chanted 
song,  this  boy  was  worshiping.  He  had  been  granted 
one  of  those  flashes  of  insight  which  come  all  too 
seldom  in  a  lifetime. 

But  the  conditions  of  real  worship  were  all  there. 
Note  that  all  the  ordinary  distractions  of  life  were 
removed.  For  the  time  being,  little  things,  the 
parts  of  things,  fell  away  and  he  saw  “life  steadily 
and  saw  it  whole,”  with  its  setting  in  eternity. 

To  give  dynamic  to  desirable  attitudes. — Al¬ 
though  the  aim  of  much  of  our  teaching  is  to  estab¬ 
lish  the  desirable  attitudes  which  we  would  have 
young  people  carry  over  into  conduct,  there  is  a 
way  in  which  worship  can  do  this  more  surely  than 
any  other  process.  There  is  born  out  of  real  wor¬ 
ship  a  longing  to  express  the  social  God-comradeship 
feeling.  Worship  can  crystallize  this  longing  into 
concrete  life-attitudes.  “Do  you  know,”  said  a 
fifteen-year-old  girl,  “I  can  never  possibly  tell  you 
what  these  services  of  worship  here  in  the  church 
school  mean  to  me.  They  seem  to  touch  our  daily 
lives.  I  come  in  here  all  out  of  tune  some  mornings 
and  upset  about  things  and  I  go  away  sure  that 
life  is  worth  living.  It  makes  it  easy  to  be  good 

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JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


all  week.”  If  worship  means  anything,  it  means 
just  this,  to  reenergize  the  wills  of  men  and  women, 
until  we  have  “the  will  of  man  willing  immortal 
things.”2 

What  attitudes  should  worship  develop?  Harts- 
horne  mentions  five:  Gratitude,  Goodwill,  Reverence, 
Faith,  and  Loyalty.3  Perhaps  there  are  others,  or 
possibly  any  desirable  attitude  of  which  one  might 
think,  could  be  classified  under  one  of  the  above 
five.  If  worship  includes  some  “thinking  about 
things  which  concern  God  and  ourselves  and  also 
some  attitude  toward  these  things  definitely  taken,” 
then  any  desirable  attitude  may  be  expressed  in 
worship  with  the  conviction  that  God  and  we  are 
partners  and  that  in  the  expression  of  this  attitude, 
whether  it  be  the  attitude  of  sympathy,  patriotism, 
good  citizenship,  or  generosity,  we  are  sharing  God’s 
purposes  with  him. 

To  afford  training  in  worship. — One  of  the  very 
definite  aims  of  education  through  worship  should 
be  to  afford  a  progressive  training  in  the  ability 
to  worship.  Many  an  adult  has  never  learned  how 
to  worship.  Although  some  feel  instinctively  the 
need  for  expressing  themselves  in  this  way  and 
seek  that  expression  in  the  Sunday-morning  service, 
many  others  stay  away  because  they  do  not  really 
enjoy  it.  Still  others  attend  the  service,  but  frankly 
do  not  give  their  attention  to  the  worship  of  the 
morning.  They  have  never  been  taught  how  to 
worship. 

Juniors  are  ready  to  study  the  form  of  worship 
used  in  the  church  service  on  Sunday  mornings, 

2  Edith  Wharton. 

*  Hartshorne,  H.,  Manual  for  Training  in  Worship.  Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 

176 


EDUCATING  JUNIORS  THROUGH  WORSHIP 


to  become  familiar  with  some  of  the  accustomed 
prayers,  hymns,  and  responses,  and  they  should  be 
given  an  opportunity,  at  least  occasionally,  to 
participate  consciously  with  the  adults  in  the  morn¬ 
ing  worship.  On  such  occasions  the  service  of 
worship  should  be  planned  to  appeal  to  all  the  ages 
present.  There  is  probably  more  of  common  desire 
and  longing  in  adults  and  children  than  we  some¬ 
times  recognize.  The  common  expression  of  this 
common  desire  will  unite  the  family  of  God  as  no 
other  thing  can  do. 

Training  in  worship  should  suggest  to  youth  not 
only  the  possibility  of  its  experience  in  a  church 
but  also  the  possibility  of  carrying  that  spirit  of 
worship  into  other  situations.  Fortunate  is  the 
church  school  which  can  occasionally  take  its  chil¬ 
dren  out  of  doors  to  worship.  Worship  should  also 
lead  young  people  occasionally  to  want,  in  the  midst 
of  the  week’s  activities,  that  same  sense  of  quiet 
and  peace  which  comes  when  one  is  alone  with  God 
and  thinks  his  thoughts  after  him.  Children  should 
learn  through  their  worship  training  in  the  church 
school  how  to  pray,  so  that  their  prayers  at  home 
will  be  more  intelligently  offered  and  more  satis¬ 
fying. 

HOW  JUNIORS  WORSHIP 

Junior  children  are  so  continuously  active  and 
are  so  frankly  challenging  the  reality  of  life’s  expe¬ 
riences  that  we  do  not  catch  them,  as  often  as  we 
do  adolescents,  in  the  mood  which  borders  on 
worship.  Then,  too,  the  average  church-school 
teacher  seldom  follows  his  class  members  into 
their  everyday  experiences  of  living.  He  almost 

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JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


never  sees  them  in  their  unguarded  moments  of 
spontaneous  worship.  If  the  church-school  leaders 
could  do  this,  the  problem  of  providing  for  children 
an  adequate  expression  in  and  through  worship 
would  be  a  simpler  one.  Juniors  may  be  truly 
worshiping,  in  a  crude  and  violent  form,  and  we 
may  fail  to  recognize  their  mood  as  one  of  wor¬ 
ship. 

Juniors  may  be  unconventional  in  their  expres¬ 
sion  of  worship. — Juniors  are  not  bound  by  tra¬ 
ditions.  They  will  not  feel  impelled  to  worship  in 
a  certain  set  way.  Their  expression  of  the  spirit 
of  worship  may  even  border  on  the  irreverent,  as 
far  as  the  form  of  it  goes,  when  there  is  within  their 
soul  only  the  deepest  reverence. 

One  night  when  Grenfell,  of  the  Labrador,  was 
showing  his  pictures  and  telling  of  his  adventures, 
in  one  place  in  the  program  the  hymn,  “From 
Greenland’s  Icy  Mountains,”  was  announced. 
“Gosh!  I  love  that  song,”  exclaimed  a  ten-year-old 
in  the  front  row,  and  he  sang  it  lustily.  There  was 
little  doubt  that  he  was  worshiping;  something  had 
gripped  him.  His  expression  of  adoration  was  not 
that  of  conventional  worship;  and  he  was  on  ordinary 
occasions  a  stumbling-block  in  the  church-school 
service.  Yet  he  was  evidently  capable  of  entering 
wholeheartedly  into  the  spirit  of  worship. 

Juniors  like  variety  in  their  worship. — The  Junior 
boy  who  said  he  liked  the  stories  in  the  service  of 
worship  best  because  “the  stories  were  always 
different  while  the  songs  were  the  same,”  indicated 
that  children  do  not  enjoy  set  forms  which  grow  old 
and  monotonous.  Variety  of  activity  has  its  appeal 
to  the  Junior  in  worship  just  as  it  does  in  his  play 

178 


EDUCATING  JUNIORS  THROUGH  WORSHIP 


or  his  work.  He  will  follow  a  simple  order  of  worship 
and  enjoy  its  regularity  for  awhile,  and  then  will 
welcome  some  change.  Or  he  may  enjoy  a  form  of 
worship  for  an  indefinite  amount  of  time,  if  within 
that  form  there  is  sufficient  variety  in  the  materials 
of  worship. 

Juniors  need  concreteness  and  directness  in  their 
worship. — The  materials  of  worship  need  to  be 
concrete  for  the  Junior  boy  and  girl.  The  beauty 
of  this  particular  October  day  on  which  we  are 
worshiping  will  arouse  more  gratitude  than  the 
thought  of  the  beauty  of  nature  in  general.  The 
story  of  Grenfell,  who  traveled  unflinchingly  through 
severe  cold  and  hardship  to  save  a  sick  boy’s  life, 
will  stimulate  a  sincerer  prayer  for  willingness  to 
do  our  duty  than  a  glowing  dissertation  on  the 
grandeur  of  the  heroic.  Services  of  worship  should 
be  aimed  to  arouse  very  directly  the  specific  atti¬ 
tudes  which  a  Junior  should  have  toward  God  and 
his  work. 

Juniors  need  preparation  for  worship. — Juniors 
worship  best  when  their  minds  have  been  carefully 
prepared  for  each  part  of  the  service.  Because  the 
Junior’s  attention  is  directed  toward  many  things, 
the  leader  should  plan  to  secure  that  attention  by 
some  definitely  interesting  approach  during  the 
first  few  minutes  of  the  service  of  worship.  Then 
the  leader  should  keep  that  attention  fixed  upon 
every  part  of  the  service  by  some  striking  word  of 
explanation,  or  a  hint  as  to  the  meaning  of  what 
follows,  or  a  brief  story  or  incident  told  to  prepare 
the  worshiper  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  service 
whether  it  be  through  hymn,  prayer,  or  Scripture 
recitation. 


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JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


For  Further  Reading : 

Cabot — What  Men  Live  By. 

Fosdick — The  Meaning  of  Prayer. 
Hartshorne — Worship  in  the  Sunday  School. 
Von  Ogden  Vogt — Art  and  Religion. 


180 


CHAPTER  XII 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  A  SERVICE  OF 

WORSHIP 

In  building  a  service  of  worship  there  are  certain 
very  definite  elements  to  be  considered  and  planned 
for.  These  include  the  materials  of  worship,  the 
central  theme,  the  story  or  talk,  music,  prayer, 
the  responsive  service  and  the  offertory.  Let  us 
see  how  we  should  plan  for  each  one  of  these  ele¬ 
ments  for  a  group  of  worshiping  Juniors. 

MATERIALS  OF  WORSHIP 

The  curriculum  of  worship  has  been  mentioned 
before  as  correlated  with  the  curriculum  of  informa¬ 
tion  and  of  activity.  The  worship  service  is  often 
the  Junior  superintendent’s  great  opportunity  to 
enrich  the  entire  curriculum,  for  usually  he  or  she 
has  a  free  hand  here.  Although  the  regular  course 
of  study  may  not  include  as  wide  a  variety  of  sub¬ 
ject  matter  as  could  be  desired  for  meeting  the 
needs  of  Juniors,  the  leader  is  free  to  introduce  into 
the  curriculum  of  worship  material,  from  the  Bible, 
from  literature,  from  history,  from  the  records  of 
Christian  missions,  from  art,  or  from  nature.  Ma¬ 
terial  for  the  purposes  of  worship  may  be  secured 
wherever  it  can  be  found,  provided  that  it  carries 
the  desired  message.  The  leader  of  the  Junior 
Department,  or  whoever  is  to  conduct  the  service 
of  worship,  will  do  well  to  make  himself  familiar 
with  as  many  sources  of  suitable  material  as  possible. 

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JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Types  of  worship  material. — Probably  the  type  of 
material  used  most  frequently  will  be  the  story 
aimed  to  develop  some  one  of  the  desirable  atti¬ 
tudes.  A  reglimpse  at  our  aims  of  worship  will 
reveal  all  the  possibilities  in  the  way  of  story  ma¬ 
terial  here.  A  study  of  the  types  of  worship  serv¬ 
ices1  will  suggest  what  a  variety  of  story  material 
may  be  used  and  how  closely  it  may  be  adapted  to 
the  aim  of  each  service  of  worship. 

In  order  to  enrich  every  part  of  the  service  of 
worship,  the  leader  may  use  the  stories  of  great 
hymns  or  stories  of  times  when  prayer  has  been 
tremendously  effective.  For  the  out-of-door  service 
of  worship  there  are  the  stories  of  mountains,  woods, 
and  waters  which  lead  quite  naturally  to  the  repeti¬ 
tion  of  the  one  hundred  fourth  psalm  or  to  the 
singing  of,  “This  is  My  Father’s  World.” 

There  is  also  the  material  suitable  for  the  special 
days,  when  the  services  of  worship  will  seek  to  make 
use  of  the  particular  appeal  of  these  special  occa¬ 
sions.  Some  of  the  special  occasions  which  will 
have  an  appeal  for  Juniors  are:  Thanksgiving, 
Forefathers’  Day,  Christmas,  New  Year’s,  Lincoln’s 
Birthday,  Washington’s  Birthday,  Easter,  Mother’s 
Day,  Clean  Up  Week,  Children’s  Week,  Be  Kind- 
to-Animals  Week,  Memorial  Day,  Flag  Day,  Inde¬ 
pendence  Day. 

Not  all  of  these  special  occasions  need  be  memo¬ 
rialized  in  any  one  year,  but  any  one  of  them  is  rich 
in  suggestion  of  ideal  qualities  which  may  supply 
a  theme  for  worship,  and  almost  all  of  them  will 
furnish  an  objective  for  service  after  worship  has 

given  the  children  suitable  motives. 

_ 

1  See  end  of  Chapter  XIII,  Types  of  Junior  Services  of  Worship. 

182 


ELEMENTS  OF  A  SERVICE  OF  WORSHIP 


Occasionally  pictures  or  some  other  expression  of 
art  may  supply  the  theme  for  worship.  A  series  of 
missionary  worship  services  may  lead  up  to  the 
Sunday  when  Copping’s  picture  “The  Hope  of 
the  World”  is  unveiled  and  hung  upon  the  wall 
of  the  Junior  room.  In  one  school,  Abbey’s  “The 
Oath,”  from  the  Holy  Grail  series,  was  made  the 
center  of  a  memorable  worship  service,  when  the 
ideals  of  Loyalty  and  Heroism  had  been  the  themes 
of  worship  for  a  month. 

Not  in  one  year  but  in  many  will  the  Junior 
leader  use  all  the  wealth  of  possible  curriculum 
material  available  for  purposes  of  worship.  Let  the 
leader  distinguish  between  that  material  which, 
while  full  of  meaning,  may  be  more  adapted  to  the 
classroom,  and  that  which  in  its  simplicity,  its 
emotional  quality,  and  its  beauty  will  bear  its  fruit 
in  worship. 

Correlating  worship  with  instruction  and  expres¬ 
sion. — One  of  the  advantages  of  worship  is  that 
it  provides  for  the  expression  of  its  own  spirit  almost 
immediately  in  song  and  prayer  and  spoken  word, 
but  such  expression  is  not  sufficient  in  itself.  When 
worship  is  deep  and  vital  it  naturally  seeks  other 
outlets  of  a  more  practical  and  active  nature. 

One  group  of  suburban  children  after  a  worship 
program  which  presented  the  story  of  children  in 
cities  and  mining  centers,  asked  if  they  could  not 
go  outside  at  once  and  pick  spring  flowers  for  those 
who  never  had  a  chance  to  see  them.  The  depart¬ 
ment  immediately  went  in  a  body  to  the  little 
patch  of  woods  near  by  and  gathered  flowers  which 
were  sent,  that  very  afternoon,  into  the  city  ten¬ 
ement  districts  for  the  children  there.  It  is  possible 

i83 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


and  advisable  to  correlate  the  worship  services 
very  closely  with  the  program  of  service  activities. 
The  wise  leader  of  worship  will  plan  also  to  have 
some  of  the  services  of  worship  correlated  with  the 
discussions  which  are  going  on  in  the  various  classes 
in  the  Junior  Department. 

A  CENTRAL  THEME 

Every  service  of  worship  for  children  involves  a 
central  idea  or  theme  around  which  to  organize  the 
appeal  of  the  service.  Sometimes  this  theme  will 
stand  by  itself,  chosen  for  just  one  service.  Some¬ 
times  it  will  be  one  aspect  of  a  general  theme  for 
worship  covering  a  longer  period.  In  one  Junior 
Department  for  four  months  in  1920,  the  theme, 
“The  Spirit  of  the  Pilgrims,”  was  chosen.  Stories 
were  told  of  the  Pilgrims  themselves,  revealing 
their  true  spirit,  followed  by  stories  illustrating  the 
expression  of  the  Pilgrims’  spirit  in  our  everyday 
living.  Some  of  the  Pilgrim  qualities  thought  of 
by  the  children  were  faith,  courage,  self-sacrifice, 
overcoming  obstacles,  loyalty  to  God.  The  chil¬ 
dren  then  discussed  how  the  Pilgrims  believed  in 
education  and  in  extending  its  privileges  to  others, 
as,  for  example,  to  the  Indians.  So  for  the  last 
month  the  theme  chosen  was  “Carrying  the  Pilgrim 
Spirit  to  Others.”  These  last  services  were  mis¬ 
sionary  in  character. 

There  have  been  cases  where  one  central  theme 
for  worship  has  been  chosen  for  an  entire  year, 
each  month  considering  some  idea  growing  out  of 
the  central  theme.  Such  a  theme  which  was  the 
basis  for  a  year’s  program  of  worship  in  one  Junior 
Department  was  “The  Family  of  God.”  In  fact, 

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ELEMENTS  OF  A  SERVICE  OF  WORSHIP 


this  theme  was  used  in  all  departments  of  this 
particular  church  school,  each  department  treating 
it  according  to  the  age  of  those  enrolled. 

When  such  central  themes  are  chosen  it  is  possi¬ 
ble  to  correlate  effectively  the  information,  the 
worship,  and  the  expressional  activities.  When  one 
is  worshiping  in  the  thought  of  the  “Family  of 
God,”  it  is  natural  in  class  to  study  something  about 
those  members  of  the  family  whom  we  do  not 
know  very  well,  and  it  is  sure  to  develop  that  the 
children  will  want  to  do  something  for  their  brothers 
and  sisters  in  this  great  family. 

THE  STORY  OR  TALK 

An  important  element  in  the  service  of  worship 
for  children  is  the  story  or  talk  which  sets  forth 
the  central  theme  of  the  worship  of  the  morning. 
Worship  must  be  full  of  meaning;  it  must  be  focused 
upon  a  definite  concept  if  it  is  to  bear  its  greatest 
fruit.  Every  other  part  of  the  service  of  worship 
— the  music,  the  prayers,  the  responses — should  be 
meaningful  in  the  light  of  this  central  theme  as 
given  out  in  the  story.  Children  especially  need 
to  have  thought  content  given  to  every  part  of 
the  service  of  worship.  The  mere  announcement 
of  a  hymn  may  call  forth  only  a  half-hearted  re¬ 
sponse.  But  if  the  words  of  the  hymn  are  plainly 
related  to  the  idea  of  the  morning,  then  it  becomes 
more  highly  suggestive  of  spiritual  values. 

Types  of  stories  suitable  for  worship. — Remem¬ 
bering  the  aims  of  worship,  we  shall  see  that  stories, 
in  order  to  fulfill  those  aims,  should  be  joyful, 
positive,  constructive.  If  they  are  to  make  ideals 
appealing,  and  to  stimulate  new  resolves,  they  must 

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JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


be  full  of  the  ideal  quality.  If  the  aim  of  the  wor¬ 
ship  period  is  to  arouse  sympathy  for  the  needs 
of  others,  the  presentation  of  those  needs  should 
not  have  a  depressing  effect,  but  the  story  of  the 
need  should  also  suggest  a  way  out.  If  “Honor” 
is  the  theme  of  the  worship,  the  story  should  pic¬ 
ture,  not  the  failure  of  honor  to  function,  but  its 
triumph  in  daily  living.  The  predominating  im¬ 
pression  of  the  story  should  be  one  of  victorious 
determination  to  live  our  best. 

Relative  value  of  the  story  and  the  talk. — A  word 
should  be  said  of  the  relative  value  of  the  story 
and  the  talk  in  a  service  of  worship  for  Junior 
children.  There  is  no  form  so  powerful  as  the  story 
to  make  ideas  vivid  or  truth  appealing  to  children 
of  this  age.  Many  children’s  sermons  fail,  because 
they  are  too  “preachy.”  They  point  out  their 
moral  too  plainly.  The  story  grips  life  because 
it  is  a  reproduction  of  life  itself.  But  there  is  a 
place,  now  and  then,  for  the  informal  talk  by  the 
leader  or  for  the  interchange  of  ideas  between 
leader  and  children.  If  some  ethical  problem  is 
to  be  cleared  up  by  the  service  of  worship,  or  if 
an  idea  quite  new  in  content  is  to  be  developed, 
it  can  often  be  done  by  the  informal  talk  or  con¬ 
versation  and  the  spirit  of  real  worship  maintained 
at  the  same  time.2 

Dramatizing  the  story  for  worship. — There  are 
times  when  the  dramatization  of  a  story  by  the 
children  will  further  the  spirit  of  worship.  If  a 
dramatization  is  used  as  a  part  of  a  worship  service, 
however,  care  should  be  taken  to  have  it  done  as 

2  Examples  of  such  talks,  which  are  not  “preachy,”  but  simple  and  dignified, 
may  be  found  in  the  Manual  for  Training  in  Worship,  by  Hartshorne. 

1 86 


ELEMENTS  OF  A  SERVICE  OF  WORSHIP 


simply  as  possible,  with  no  arranging  of  scenery  or 
other  mechanism  apparent  to  interrupt  the  spirit 
of  worship.  Everything  should  be  in  readiness,  the 
children  who  are  to  participate  all  costumed  and 
in  their  regular  seats,  so  that  at  the  moment  of 
giving  it  they  may  start  in  with  as  few  prelim¬ 
inaries  as  the  leader  does  on  ordinary  occasions 
when  she  tells  the  story. 

MUSIC 

Aims  as  far-reaching  as  those  we  have  outlined 
for  the  program  of  worship  call  for  the  very  best 
music.  Neither  a  child  nor  an  adult  can  enter  the 
presence  of  God  on  a  cheap  or  unworthy  melody. 
Public-school  educators  have  taught  us  that  music 
does  not  need  to  be  “catchy”  to  appeal  to  children, 
but  that  the  child’s  taste  may  be  cultivated  to  appre¬ 
ciate  whatever  is  the  best.  Religious  music  should 
be  truly  great,  as  great  as  the  soul’s  aspirations; 
it  should  not  recall  in  its  rhythm,  its  tunes,  or  its 
words  any  of  the  cheaper  experiences  of  life. 

Types  of  hymns  suitable  for  Juniors. — There  is 
to-day  a  variety  of  good  religious  music  suitable 
for  Junior  children.  The  hymnology  of  the  church 
is  so  rich  with  great  hymns  that  one  cannot  exhaust 
all  its  possibilities  during  the  years  when  children 
are  in  the  church  school. 

What  types  of  hymns  shall  we  select  for  Juniors? 
First  of  all,  they  will  be  hymns  which  deal  primarily 
with  conduct.  Some  of  the  greatest  church  hymns 
contain  theological  phrases  that  are  remote  from 
child  thought. 

“Holy,  holy,  holy,  merciful  and  mighty, 

God  in  three  Persons,  blessed  Trinity.” 

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JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Such  a  conception  of  God  will  only  confuse  the 
Junior  and  take  his  mind  away  from  the  idea  of 
worship.  Far  better  for  Juniors  is  that  other  ver¬ 
sion  of  this  hymn,  “Perfect  in  power,  in  love  and 
purity.”  Good  examples  of  hymns  that  deal  with 
conduct  are  “Saviour,  Teach  Me  Day  by  Day,” 
“Soldiers  of  Christ  Arise,”  “O  Master,  Let  Me  Walk 
With  Thee,”  “O  Jesus,  Prince  of  Life  and  Truth.” 

There  should  also  be  great  care  exercised  to  see 
that  the  hymns  selected  express  spiritual  experiences 
which  are  within  the  understanding  of  Juniors.  In 
a  certain  Junior  Department,  one  Sunday  morning, 
where  the  entire  form  of  worship  was  beautiful 
and  reverential,  one  Junior  girl  sang  a  solo.  The 
hymn  chosen  was  “Jesus  Calls  Us.”  The  opening 
words  of  that  hymn  hardly  express  the  attitude 
of  the  normal  Junior  child: 

“Jesus  calls  us;  o’er  the  tumult 
Of  our  life’s  wild,  restless  sea, 

Day  by  day  his  sweet  voice  soundeth, 

Saying,  ‘Christian,  follow  me.’  ’’ 

The  wilder  and  more  restless  the  sea,  the  more 
appeal  will  it  have  for  the  average  Junior.  He  is 
not  ready  to  be  called  away  from  life,  but  to  be 
called  to  it. 

So  too  some  of  the  verses  of  that  great  hymn 
“Abide  With  Me”  do  not  express  thoughts  to 
which  the  average  young  person  can  respond: 

“Swift  to  its  dose  ebbs  out  life’s  little  day; 

Earth’s  joys  grow  dim,  its  glories  pass  away; 

Change  and  decay  in  all  around  I  see; 

O  Thou  who  changest  not,  abide  with  me.” 

Some  day,  when  he  is  older,  that  hymn  may  express 

1 88 


(■Mil . — 


HOLY,  HOLY,  HOLY” 


- 


ELEMENTS  OF  A  SERVICE  OF  WORSHIP 


the  longing  of  the  Junior’s  heart,  but  now,  when  he 
is  alive  and  at  the  beginning  of  life,  he  can  worship 
far  better  through  that  other  beautiful  evening  hymn 

“Day  is  dying  in  the  west, 

Heaven  is  touching  earth  with  rest; 

Wait  and  worship  while  the  night 
Sets  her  evening  lamps  alight 
Through  all  the  sky. 

Holy,  holy,  holy,  Lord  God  of  Hosts! 
Heaven  and  earth  are  full  of  thee, 

Heaven  and  earth  are  praising  thee, 

O  Lord  Most  High.” 

Children  respond  to  stirring  music  of  a  martial 
or  jubilant  character  and  they  should  be  given  an 
opportunity  to  carry  this  jubilance  and  heroic  am¬ 
bition  over  into  their  Christian  experience.  Some 
of  the  great  church  hymns  are  of  this  character, 
namely,  “Onward,  Christian  Soldiers!”  “Stand  Up, 
Stand  Up  for  Jesus,”  and  “We  March,  We  March 
to  Victory.”  There  are  a  number  of  songs  written 
within  the  last  few  years  which  have  a  childlike 
appeal,  either  in  the  stirring  rhythms  or  the  simple 
melodies.  Some  of  them  are  not  quite  as  imposing 
or  as  sublime  as  the  older  hymns,  but  they  are 
good  music  and  satisfy  something  which  is  in  every 
childish  heart.  Such  a  song  is  “Marching  With 
the  Heroes,”3  the  words  of  which  are  not  new,  but 
the  music  for  which  is  recent. 

But  children  should  not  sing  only  those  songs 
which  stir  to  action  and  decision.  There  is  a  place 
in  their  experience  for  prayerful ,  devotional  hymns , 
such  as  “Immortal  Love,  Forever  Full,”  or  “Dear 
Lord  and  Father  of  Mankind.”  Quiet  reflection  is 

3  See  Hymnal  for  American  Youth,  No.  201.  The  Century  Co. 

189 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


a  needed  lesson  for  youth  in  this  restless,  rushing  age. 

Fortunately,  every  year,  hymns  are  being  made 
from  our  best  modern  religious  poetry ,  hymns  which 
speak  a  message  which  children  of  to-day  can 
readily  appreciate.  Examples  of  this  kind  are  the 
following:  “This  Is  My  Father’s  World”  and  “Be 
Strong,”  both  by  Maltbie  Babcock;  “In  Christ 
There  Is  No  East  or  West,”  by  John  Oxenham; 
“I  Would  Be  True,”  by  Howard  Walter;  “Where 
Cross  the  Crowded  Ways  of  Life,”  by  Frank  Mason 
North.  The  last  hymn  represents  the  great  need 
for  more  of  its  kind,  hymns  which  express  the 
growing  social  consciousness  of  our  present  day. 
Outside  of  the  few  great  missionary  hymns  of  the 
church,  those  with  a  large  social  content  are  very 
difficult  to  find. 

There  is  no  type  of  hymn  which  the  children 
enjoy  singing  more  than  the  hymn  of  missionary 
heroism  or  endeavor.  There  is  so  much  of  color 
and  action  in  the  usual  missionary  hymn  that  its 
appeal  is  a  very  concrete  one.  That  is  one  reason 
why  children  like  to  illustrate  the  great  missionary 
songs.  What  Junior  has  not  had  fun  cutting  or 
coloring  illustrations  for  “From  Greenland’s  Icy 
Mountains”?  The  entire  hymn  is  full  of  pictures, 
so  vivid  that  every  child  can  see  them,  especially 
with  a  background  of  splendid  missionary  stories. 

Juniors,  after  hearing  the  stories  of  boys  and 
girls  of  different  races,  and  realizing  how  much 
some  of  those  boys  and  girls  have  been  willing  to 
sacrifice  that  they  might  learn  how  to  follow  the 
Christian’s  God,  will  sing  from  their  hearts, 

“We’ve  a  story  to  tell  to  the  nations, 

That  shall  turn  their  hearts  to  the  light.” 

190 


ELEMENTS  OF  A  SERVICE  OF  WORSHIP 


Need  of  best  leadership  of  Junior  music. — As 

important  as  is  a  good  hymnal  in  a  Junior  Depart¬ 
ment,  a  good  pianist  is  no  less  needed.  We  recog¬ 
nize  the  power  of  music  and  of  a  master  hand  at  the 
piano  in  the  Beginners’  room,  but  Juniors,  in  their 
worship,  should  also  have  the  best  leadership  of 
music.  It  is  possible  for  the  piano  to  sound  through 
the  bustle  of  the  pre-session  period  and  to  call  each 
child  from  his  special  task  to  his  seat  in  a  frame  of 
mind  ready  for  worship. 

It  is  especially  important  that  the  pianist  in  the 
Junior  Department  shall  be  able  to  play  hymns 
with  a  fine  sense  of  time,  rhythm,  and  feeling.  How 
disappointing  it  is  when  a  group  of  wide-awake 
Juniors  feel  inspired  to  sing 

“Stand  up,  stand  up  for  Jesus, 

Ye  soldiers  of  the  cross,” 

to  have  the  pianist  drag  its  splendid  marching 
rhythm  or  blunder  over  the  notes!  How  agonizing 
it  is  when  the  leader  of  the  worship  service  has  her 
group  of  Juniors  ready  in  a  spirit  of  adoration  to 
sing, 

“O  little  town  of  Bethlehem, 

How  still  we  see  thee  lie,” 

to  have  the  piano  pound  out  the  opening  measures 
with  no  shade  of  mystery  or  serenity. 

The  piano  should  be  played,  as  it  is  in  church, 
between  various  parts  of  the  service,  while  hymns 
are  being  found,  and  while  the  offertory  plates  are 
being  secured.  The  whole  service  is  thus  tied 
together  by  the  music  from  the  piano. 

If  the  Junior  Department  can  have  the  leadership 

191 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


of  someone  with  real  talent,  one  who  has  a  sym¬ 
pathetic  understanding  of  the  religious  educational 
program,  such  a  person  can  help  develop  Junior 
choirs  of  boys  or  girls,  or  of  both,  affording  an 
opportunity  for  children  who  especially  love  music 
to  give  their  musical  talent  to  the  service  of  the 
church.  These  choirs  from  the  Junior  Department 
can  sing  during  the  department  worship  every  Sunday 
morning,  or  occasionally,  to  fit  in  with  the  program 
of  worship.  No  choirs,  however,  should  supplant 
the  singing  by  the  entire  Junior  group,  for  all  should 
have  a  chance  to  express  themselves  in  worship 
through  music. 

Learning  new  hymns. — The  service  of  worship  is 
not  a  time  for  the  rehearsing  of  hymns.  The  enjoy¬ 
ment  of  many  a  beautiful  song  has  been  spoiled 
for  children  by  the  leader  who  stops  them  in  the 
middle  of  a  verse  with  the  exhortation:  “Some  of 
us  are  not  singing.  Now,  let  us  do  this  verse  right 
over  again  and  see  if  every  single  one  can  help.” 
Children  do  not  need  this  kind  of  exhortation  if 
the  song  is  adapted  to  their  interests  and  if  it  has 
been  adequately  led  up  to  by  the  thought  of  the 
morning.  At  some  other  place  in  the  morning 
session  time  can  be  taken  to  rehearse. 

PRAYER 

Children  probably  worship  less  during  the  prayers 
than  during  any  other  part  of  the  service  of  wor¬ 
ship.  They  have  difficulty  in  holding  attention 
during  the  prayer.  Very  often  they  are  frankly 
not  “interested.”  There  are  some  perfectly  obvious 
reasons  for  this. 

The  Juniors’  attitude  toward  prayer. — Prayers 

192 


ELEMENTS  OF  A  SERVICE  OF  WORSHIP 


offered  by  adults  for  children  seldom  voice  the 
children’s  thoughts.  Even  though  these  prayers  are 
carefully  thought  out  and  simple,  the  very  fact 
that  some  one  else  is  doing  the  praying  makes  it 
difficult  for  the  children  actively  to  participate. 
Many  prayers  planned  for  Juniors  are  too  long. 
A  very  few  sentences  can  hold  their  attention; 
after  that  it  is  apt  to  wander.  If  form  prayers  are 
repeated,  they  are  apt  to  become  dead  and  mean¬ 
ingless  through  too  much  repetition. 

Probably  the  most  pertinent  reason  for  children’s 
failure  to  enjoy  prayer  is  found  in  the  fact  that  so 
many  prayers  are  not  the  expression  of  a  felt  need 
or  desire.  Children  will  not  really  pray  unless,  at 
the  very  moment  of  praying,  they  are  conscious 
of  a  need  or  unless  they  actually  anticipate  a  real 
experience.  For  this  reason  preparation  for  the 
prayer  should  be  made.  It  should  come  at  that 
moment  in  the  service  of  worship  when  the  ideational 
and  the  emotional  value  is  at  its  height.  This  is 
probably  immediately  after  the  story.  If  the 
prayer  is  used  earlier  in  the  service,  some  prep¬ 
aration  must  be  made  for  it  by  the  telling  of  a 
short  incident  or  by  in  some  way  awakening  a 
response  in  the  child’s  heart  before  he  is  allowed 
to  pray.  Prayer  without  the  proper  mind-set  is 
futile.  Children  in  one  Junior  Department  were 
asked  to  write  on  “What  I  Like  About  the  Serv¬ 
ices  of  Worship.”  The  answer  of  one  girl  was 
practically  the  answer  of  all:  “I  like  the  songs  and 
the  stories  best  of  the  opening  services.  The  stories 
are  always  about  something  different.  They  are 
almost  always  original.  I  like  the  songs  about 
marching  to  war  like  ‘Marching  with  Our  Heroes’ 

193 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


and  ‘Stand  Up  for  Jesus/  ”  Out  of  about  twenty 
answers  handed  in  not  one  child  even  mentioned 
the  prayers.  When  asked  what  kind  of  prayers 
they  liked  best,  they  replied,  with  one  voice,  “Those 
we  all  pray  together.”  They  did  not  care,  they  said, 
to  hear  an  adult  pray  for  them  as  much  as  to  pray 
themselves. 

How  Juniors  like  to  pray. — Prayers  for  Juniors 
should  include  a  large  number  to  be  offered  in 
unison.  Such  prayers  will  be  particularly  vital  if 
the  children  themselves  have  helped  to  work  them 
out.  The  following  is  a  prayer  composed  by  the 
children  in  one  Junior  Department.  The  way  had 
been  prepared  for  it  by  several  weeks’  programs 
of  worship  based  on  stories  of  child  life  in  the  great 
cities  and  industrial  centers.  The  children  con¬ 
tributed  ideas  for  the  prayer  which  follows  and 
several  of  the  older  ones  wrote  it  out. 

“Our  Father,  we  thank  thee  that  we  are  thy 
children,  and  that  we  have  parents  here  who  pro¬ 
vide  clothing,  food,  and  education  for  us.  We 
thank  thee  for  our  church  and  for  our  own  depart¬ 
ment;  and  we  thank  thee,  too,  that  we  live  where 
we  know  trees  and  the  flowers  and  the  big  out-of- 
doors. 

“May  we  realize  that  there  are  many  children 
all  over  the  world  who  have  not  these  things,  and 
that  we  may  share  with  them. 

“Help  us  to  grow  more  like  Jesus  every  day. 
Amen.” 

There  are  times  when  the  adult  leader  should 
offer  the  prayer  that  children  may  receive  an  idea 
of  prayer  at  its  best,  but  such  prayers  should  be 
short,  simple,  and  dignified.  They  should  always 

194 


ELEMENTS  OF  A  SERVICE  OF  WORSHIP 


express  the  thought  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  the 
praying  group.  To  arouse  an  interest  in  a  certain 
line  of  thought  and  then  to  pray  about  other  things, 
however  worthy,  is  to  induce  insincerity  in  pray¬ 
ing,  for  the  child  cannot  quickly  make  the  transition 
from  the  absorbing  idea  of  the  moment  to  other 
realities.  Not  making  the  transition,  he  prays 
with  the  lips  but  not  with  the  heart. 

There  are  accessible  unison  prayers  which  are 
beautiful  and  which  express  some  universal  desires  of 
childhood.  These  may  be  selected  carefully,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  theme  of  the  morning,  and  used  effectively. 

Public  praying  by  Juniors. — Should  Juniors  ever 
pray  individually  before  the  entire  group?  If  chil¬ 
dren,  as  individuals,  could  be  brought  up  from  in¬ 
fancy  so  that  they  would  pray  aloud  quite  naturally, 
such  prayers  could  be  offered  without  any  distract¬ 
ing  self-consciousness.  It  should  never  be  encour¬ 
aged  if  the  children  are  embarrassingly  self-con¬ 
scious.  The  leader  who  understands  children  can 
lead  his  group  to  a  place  where  all  self-consciousness 
fades  away  in  the  felt  presence  of  God  and  where 
the  children  will  quite  naturally  offer  spontaneous 
prayers.  This  achievement  is  less  difficult  in  the 
class  group  in  a  small  room  than  with  a  larger 
number. 

When  children  plan  and  lead  a  service  of  wor¬ 
ship  themselves  they  often  accept  it  as  a  matter 
of  course  that  some  one  of  them  will  offer  the  prayer. 
Sometimes  such  a  prayer  will  be  read,  but  often, 
too,  the  children  will  think  it  quite  natural  that  one 
shall  “make  up”  the  prayer.  On  the  other  hand, 
in  some  groups,  especially  groups  of  older  boys, 
no  one  could  be  induced  to  do  it. 

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JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 

Teaching  Juniors  to  pray. — If  Juniors  are  to  pray 
before  the  group,  there  should  be  a  gradual  process 
of  education  in  prayer  preparing  them  for  it.  An 
important  factor  in  this  process  is  to  get  the  chil¬ 
dren  to  feel  deeply  and  sincerely  the  significance 
of  any  petition  which  they  are  to  offer.  When  they 
do  feel  deeply,  it  is  natural  for  them  to  pray.  This 
involves  praying  for  objects  or  situations  which  lie 
within  their  own  experience.  The  boys  and  girls 
must  forget  themselves  in  their  prayer  interests. 
They  should  gradually  become  used  to  hearing 
their  own  voices  in  prayer.  They  should  learn  what 
to  pray  for  and  how  to  word  their  prayers.  A  good 
beginning  is  the  use  of  some  unison  prayers  in 
which  all  may  unite.  Occasionally  one  class  of 
Juniors  may  be  asked  to  select  and  repeat  from 
memory  a  prayer  for  the  whole  group. 

If  the  Junior  classes  are  allowed  to  plan  and 
conduct  some  of  the  services  of  worship,  there  is 
the  opportunity  for  each  class  to  learn  how  to 
compose  its  own  prayer  to  meet  the  needs  of  the 
occasion.  The  next  step  might  be  for  a  group  to 
divide  the  prayer  into  a  series  of  short  sentence 
prayers,  each  one  in  the  group  offering  one  of  them. 
When  this  has  been  done  in  Junior  classes  it  is 
possible  for  the  Junior  superintendent,  with  a 
blackboard  in  the  front  of  the  room,  to  get  sugges¬ 
tions  from  the  entire  department  for  a  prayer.  On 
the  basis  of  these  suggestions  the  boys  and  girls 
can  compose  their  own  prayer  for  some  occasion 
when  they  have  all  been  deeply  interested. 

If  the  Juniors  have  gradually  become  used  to 
group  and  individual  praying  in  their  small  classes, 
it  will  be  comparatively  easy  to  carry  this  habit 

196 


ELEMENTS  OF  A  SERVICE  OF  WORSHIP 


over  into  use  in  the  department  service  of  worship. 
The  success  of  the  experiment  will  depend  upon 
not  forcing  the  children  before  they  are  ready  to 
express  themselves  in  prayer  and  upon  progressing 
gradually  from  one  step  to  another.  The  steps 
from  reading  a  prayer  to  reciting  from  memory, 
and  to  offering  one’s  own  prayer  are  quite  easy. 

RESPONSIVE  SERVICE 

There  is  no  set  rule  which  demands  that  all 
services  of  worship  should  contain  the  same  ele¬ 
ments.  The  Deity  will  not  be  offended  if  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  are  not  read  at  every  service.  Indeed,  unusual 
conditions  of  interest  must  prevail  if  Juniors  are 
to  listen  to  anything  read  to  them,  unless  possibly 
it  is  read  by  one  of  their  own  group.  Neither  is  it 
necessary  to  include  the  recitation  of  Bible  pas¬ 
sages  at  every  service.  However,  one  of  the  reasons 
for  memorizing  the  beautiful  and  uplifting  selections 
from  the  Bible  is  that  they  may  be  used  as  a  part 
of  the  worship  service. 

AH  such  reading  or  recitation  should,  like  the 
prayers,  be  motivated.  The  children  should  be 
led  to  feel  the  spirit  of  the  selection  before  they 
repeat  it.  The  twenty-third  psalm  was  given  a  new 
significance  for  one  group  of  Juniors  on  the  Sunday 
when  the  fourth-grade  girls  sang  that  beautiful 
old  song,  “Jesus  Shepherd,”  before  the  group  re¬ 
peated  the  psalm.  On  some  special  occasions  other 
masterpieces  than  those  in  the  Bible  may  be  used 
for  recitation  or  responsive  reading.  On  Lincoln’s 
Birthday  some  of  Lincoln’s  own  sayings  may  well 
be  included  in  the  service  of  worship. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  go  outside  of  the  Bible  for 

X9Z 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


an  appreciation  of  the  greatness  of  nature  or  God’s 
presence  in  it,  and  yet  there  may  be  an  occasion 
when  Van  Dyke’s  “Psalm  of  the  Trees”4  will  fit 
in  as  no  other  selection  possibly  could. 

The  service  of  worship  should  not  be  used  for 
drill  in  memory  work — that  should  be  done  before 
or  after  worship  or  in  the  class  groups. 

THE  OFFERTORY 

If  the  offertory  is  incorporated  into  the  service 
of  worship,  an  opportunity  is  given  to  the  children 
to  express  in  definite  activity  newly  aroused  feel¬ 
ings  of  gratitude  or  desire  to  help.  The  giving  of 
money  too  will  seem  far  more  significant  and  its 
possibilities  more  urgent  if  the  offering  is  presented 
with  beauty  and  dignity,  as  in  the  adult  church 
service,  rather  than  hastily  collected  by  a  class 
secretary  and  stuck  into  an  envelope. 

There  are  various  offertory  services  appropriate 
for  Juniors.  The  following  form  was  used  in  one 
Junior  Department  for  one  year  and  the  boys  and 
girls  seemed  to  realize  its  meaning.  Four  boys  or 
girls  were  chosen  each  Sunday  to  receive  the  offer¬ 
ing  on  offertory  plates  as  they  had  seen  it  done 
in  the  regular  church  service.  At  a  chord  from  the 
piano  these  four  walked  to  the  front  of  the  room, 
picked  up  the  plates  and  stood  facing  the  depart¬ 
ment.  The  music  ceased  for  a  few  moments  and 
then  were  spoken  these  words: 

Leader:  Freely  ye  have  received  from  your 
heavenly  Father,  freely  give. 

Children:  What  we  have,  that  will  we  give  unto 
thee. 


4  From  Van  Dyke’s,  Out  of  Doors  in  the  Holy  Land,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons, 

198 


ELEMENTS  OF  A  SERVICE  OF  WORSHIP 


All:  Offertory  Song  (while  the  offering  was  col¬ 
lected). 

When  the  offering  was  collected  the  ushers  stood 
at  the  back  of  the  room  until  near  the  close  of  the 
last  verse  of  the  offertory  song,  when  they  came  to 
the  front  and  remained  standing  while  all  united 
in  the  following  prayer. 

“Our  Father,  we  thank  thee  for  the  happiness  of 
giving;  help  us  to  share  thy  gifts  with  our  brothers 
and  sisters  throughout  the  world.  Amen.” 

There  are  a  number  of  beautiful  song  responses5 
which  may  be  sung  at  the  close  of  the  offertory 
instead  of  the  spoken  prayer  of  dedication. 

SOURCES  OF  WORSHIP  MATERIAL 
Worship  Themes 

Hartshorne — Manual  for  Training  in  Worship. 

Stowell — Story  Worship  Programs  for  the  Church 
School  Year. 

Hartshorne — Stories  for  Worship  and  How  to 
Follow  Them  Up. 

Stories 

Hartshorne — Manual  for  Training  in  Worship. 

Hartshorne — Stories  for  Worship  and  How  to 
Follow  Them  Up. 

Stowell — Story  Worship  Programs  for  the  Church 
School  Year. 

Cabot — Ethics  for  Children. 

Kerr — Children's  Story  Sermons. 

Kerr — Children's  Missionary  Story  Sermons. 

Hodges,  Sneath,  Tweedy — The  King's  Highway 
Series. 

*  See  Book  of  Worship,  Hartshorne;  Junior  Hymns  and  Carols.  Leyda  Publish¬ 
ing  Company. 


199 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Sneath,  Hodges,  Stevens — The  Golden  Rule  Series. 
Dadmun — Living  Together. 

Skinner — The  Emerald  Story  Book. 

Ferris — Missionary  Program  Material. 

Music 

Smith — Hymnal  for  American  Youth. 

Smith — Manuals  of  Hymn  Study  and  Interpretation. 
Josephine  L.  Baldwin — Services  and  Songs  for  Junior 
Department. 

Hartshorne — Book  of  Worship. 

Ley  da — Junior  Hymns  and  Carols. 

Welsh  and  Edwards — The  Romance  of  Psalter  and 
Hymnal. 

Ninde — The  Story  of  the  American  Hymn. 

Jones — Famous  Hymns  and  Their  Authors. 

Breed — The  History  and  Use  of  Hymns  and 
Hymn  Tunes. 

Prayers 

Hartshorne — Book  of  Worship. 

Hartshorne — Manual  for  Training  in  Worship. 
Beard — Prayers  for  Use  in  Home ,  School  and 
Sunday  School. 

Diffendorfer — Thy  Kingdom  Come. 

For  Further  Reading : 

Hartshorne — Manual  for  Training  in  Worship. 
Weigle  and  Tweedy — Training  the  Devotional  Life. 
Loveland — Training  World  Christians ,  Chapter 
VII,  “Teaching  How  to  Pray.” 


200 


CHAPTER  XIII 


PLANNING  THE  WORSHIP  PROGRAM 

Planning  the  worship  program  means  building 
the  service  of  worship  itself.  It  means  also  the 
making  sure  that  the  most  effective  conditions  of 
worship  prevail.  Furthermore  we  must  decide  at 
what  time  in  the  church  school  session  the  service 
of  worship  can  be  placed  most  effectively. 

PLANNING  THE  CONDITIONS  OF  WORSHIP 

Often  a  service  of  worship  which  has  been  care¬ 
fully  thought  out  as  to  its  constituent  elements 
fails  because  some  one  of  the  necessary  conditions 
has  not  been  provided.  The  atmosphere  may  not 
be  conducive  to  worship.  Some  leaders  are  not 
prepared  or  trained  to  lead  worship  effectively. 
There  are  times  when  sufficient  thought  has  not 
been  given  to  securing  the  participation  in  the 
service  of  worship  of  every  member  of  the  group. 

The  atmosphere  necessary  for  worship.— We  have 
already  noted  that  certain  conditions  tend  to  pro¬ 
duce  a  spirit  of  worship.  The  worshiper  is  sensitive 
to  the  thing  which,  for  want  of  a  better  term,  we 
shall  call  “atmosphere.”  Children  will  worship 
best  in  an  atmosphere  which  is  quiet  but  happy 
and  anticipatory;  reverential,  yet  full  of  life. 

Worship  is  an  active  state.  There  can  and 
should  be  an  alertness  of  all  the  powers  in  wor¬ 
ship,  and  there  is  bound  to  be  such  alertness  on 

201 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


the  part  of  worshiping  children.  Such  an  alertness 
is  perfectly  reverential. 

How  can  we  best  secure  this  atmosphere  in  which 
the  soul  will  expand  and  reach  out  after  God? 
First  of  all,  the  environment  can  suggest  worship. 
It  should  contain  beauty  that  will  meet  the  eye 
and  please  the  senses — beauty  of  coloring  in  walls, 
windows,  or  pictures;  beauty  of  line  and  form  in 
furnishings;  suggestions  of  the  beauty  of  God  in 
flowers  and  plants;  suggestion  of  the  spirit  of  worship 
in  an  occasional  picture  hung  where  it  will  meet 
the  eye  during  the  period  of  worship.  One  Junior 
superintendent  for  a  while  made  the  experiment 
of  hanging  in  the  front  of  the  room  each  Sunday 
morning  a  picture  suggesting  the  worshipful  atti¬ 
tude.  She  said  nothing  about  these  pictures  except 
as  the  children  began  to  comment  on  them.  One 
day,  to  a  group  who  were  standing  together  in  front 
of  the  picture  of  the  morning,  which  happened  to 
be  “The  Angelus,”  the  suggestion  was  made  that 
they  might  like  to  bring  pictures  occasionally  for 
all  to  enjoy.  No  suggestion  was  made  as  to  the 
character  of  the  pictures.  It  was  interesting  that 
almost  all  that  were  brought  were  in  some  way 
in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of  the  worship  services. 

Miss  Beard,  in  her  book,  Pictures  in  Religious 
Education ,  makes  valuable  suggestions  as  to  pic¬ 
tures  which  may  be  used  to  develop  the  spirit  of 
worship  as  well  as  those  which  may  hang  on  the 
wall  of  the  Junior  room  permanently  and  contribute 
to  the  worshipful  atmosphere.  Some  church  schools 
are  so  situated  that  the  children  have  access  to  a 
chapel  in  which  to  worship.  This  means  that  the 
environment  has  all  the  architectural  features  of 


202 


PLANNING  THE  WORSHIP  PROGRAM 


the  regular  church  atmosphere.  Some  schools,  in 
order  to  have  the  benefit  of  a  worshipful  atmosphere, 
meet  for  their  service  of  worship  in  the  church 
auditorium.  Still  others  plan  to  have  at  least  one 
or  two  services  there  each  year. 

Another  element  in  the  environment  which  makes 
for  an  atmosphere  of  true  worship  is  the  removal  of 
all  distractions.  This  involves  notebooks  placed  in 
the  classrooms  before  the  service  of  worship  begins; 
wraps  removed  and  hung  up  out  of  the  way,  where 
they  will  not  be  seen  cluttering  up  the  room;  no 
late-comers  admitted  during  any  part  of  the  service; 
and,  last  of  all,  all  adults  kept  from  running  around 
the  room,  no  matter  how  important  their  secretarial 
or  other  business. 

Too  much  stress  cannot  be  laid  upon  the  im¬ 
portance  of  having  children  and  teachers  remove 
their  hats  and  coats  as  soon  as  they  enter  the  church 
school.  When  this  is  done  all  settle  down  to  the 
work  and  pleasure  of  the  morning,  as  if  they  had 
come  to  stay  and  had  not  just  run  in  for  an  hour 
and  were  ready  to  leave  at  any  moment.  A  child 
who  is  too  hot  because  muffled  up  in  his  heavy  over¬ 
coat  in  a  warm  room  cannot  worship  well.  The 
hand  that  keeps  twirling  a  cap  even  absent-mindedly, 
is  a  distraction,  and  the  eye  that  is  taking  in  Vir¬ 
ginia’s  new  furs  or  Mary  Ellen’s  velvet  bonnet  can¬ 
not  be  an  eye  that  is  single  in  worship. 

The  attitude  of  the  leader  will  help  to  create  the 
right  atmosphere  and  will  draw  out  from  the  chil¬ 
dren  a  corresponding  attitude.  To  hold  a  group  of 
Juniors  the  leader’s  attitude  should  be  interested, 
expectant,  full  of  vivacity,  but  not  the  assumed 
vivacity  which  keeps  “spilling  over”  onto  the  boys 

203 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


and  girls.  It  is  possible  for  a  leader  to  suggest 
vitality  and  yet  to  be  perfectly  poised  and  even 
quiet  in  her  manner.  The  real  secret  of  the  leader’s 
attitude,  as  we  shall  see  when  we  talk  about  leader¬ 
ship,  is  that  he  or  she  shall  be  so  full  of  the  spirit 
of  worship  that  the  children  feel  it  from  the  first 
chord  on  the  piano  through  to  the  closing  response 
of  the  service. 

The  attitude  of  teachers  is  also  a  contributing 
element  to  the  atmosphere  of  worship.  No  founda¬ 
tions  of  reverential  worship  can  be  laid  unless 
every  teacher  in  the  department  is  worshiping  dur¬ 
ing  every  part  of  the  service.  The  success  of  the 
service  in  reaching  the  worship  needs  of  the  chil¬ 
dren  should  be  a  matter  of  vital  concern  to  every 
teacher,  inasmuch  as  it  is  giving  the  dynamic  to 
carry  over  into  life  those  attitudes  which  he  is  try¬ 
ing  to  build  up  in  the  classroom. 

Effective  leadership. — Not  all  people  are  able  to 
lead  a  service  of  worship  for  Juniors.  Many  a 
person  who  is  an  excellent  executive  or  who  may 
have  an  educational  vision,  or  who  may  be  a  suc¬ 
cessful  teacher  of  children  in  the  public  school 
cannot  lead  a  service  of  worship. 

Such  leadership  requires  the  ability  to  tell  stories 
to  children,  to  secure  a  response  from  them,  a  sure 
understanding  of  children’s  everyday  problems,  a 
sympathetic  feeling  for  normal  child  attitudes,  a 
love  of  all  that  is  beautiful  in  nature,  in  art,  in 
music,  in  literature,  in  religion;  a  joyful,  radiant 
personality,  and,  above  all  else,  a  warm  personal 
religious  experience  which  means  an  experience  of 
worship. 

Added  to  these  qualifications  must  be  one  other 

204 


PLANNING  THE  WORSHIP  PROGRAM 


— preparation.  And  this  preparation  needs  to  be 
of  two  kinds.  First,  it  must  be  intensive.  The 
teacher  should  study  what  worship  is,  what  it  is 
for,  and  how  Juniors  worship,  and  should  learn  the 
technique  of  conducting  a  service  of  worship.  In 
the  second  place,  it  means  careful  weekly  prepara¬ 
tion  of  each  Sunday  morning  worship  service,  a 
preparation  as  conscientious  and  as  thorough  as 
the  pastor’s  preparation  for  his  morning  service. 
There  is  absolutely  no  substitute  for  preparation  as 
a  means  to  conducting  a  service  of  worship  that 
will  touch  the  lives  of  boys  and  girls. 

Participation  by  the  entire  group. — One  of  the 
tests  of  the  reality  of  the  experience  of  worship  to 
Juniors  is  the  attitude  of  the  group  as  a  whole. 
Are  all  the  pupils  entering  into  the  spirit  of  the 
service  or  is  the  appeal  being  made  to  only  a  few? 

Every  once  in  a  while  the  teacher  of  the  oldest 
group  of  boys  in  one  Junior  Department  would 
go  to  the  Junior  superintendent  and  say:  “Can  you 
keep  my  boys  in  mind  a  little  bit  more  as  you  plan 
the  services  of  worship?  They  have  not  seemed 
to  be  interested  lately,  and  I  find  it  difficult  to  keep 
them  in  order.”  That  superintendent  was  most 
grateful  for  the  reminder,  for  it  was  easy  to  hold 
the  younger  Juniors  during  worship,  but  more 
difficult  to  discover  the  actual  worship  needs  of  the 
older  boys.  What  are  some  secrets  of  securing 
participation  by  the  whole  group? 

Worship  should  appeal  to  the  native  interests  of 
the  children.  In  the  first  place,  it  should  definitely 
provide  for  sufficient  activity  and  for  frequent 
change  of  activity.  Processionals,  recessionals, 
standing  for  hymns  and  responses,  receiving  the 

205 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


offertory — in  fact,  as  much  active  participation  as 
possible  should  be  provided.  The  service  of  wor¬ 
ship  can  make  use  of  the  child’s  love  of  stories,  his 
admiration  for  heroes,  his  dramatic  instinct,  his 
capacity  for  leadership. 

The  idea  of  giving  children  an  opportunity  to  lead 
in  worship  comes  as  a  surprise  to  some,  but  others 
can  testify  to  its  gratifying  results.  The  problem 
with  Juniors  is  rather  different  from  that  with 
adolescents.  The  ability  to  lead  in  any  capacity 
has  not  yet  been  highly  developed.  The  Junior  child, 
except  the  unusual  one,  cannot  lead  with  the  effective¬ 
ness  of  an  adult.  Yet  we  need  to  get  away  from  our 
traditional  ideas  of  the  proprieties  and  be  open- 
minded  to  new  values  which  we  may  still  discover. 

After  a  group  of  Juniors  had  had  for  some  months 
a  carefully  planned  and  conducted  service  of  wor¬ 
ship,  each  class  was  given  the  chance  to  plan  and 
lead  one  service  toward  the  end  of  the  school  year. 
Since  this  was  the  first  trial  with  them  of  anything 
of  the  kind,  in  order  that  they  might  have  something 
definite  as  a  starting  point,  it  was  suggested  that 
they  take  as  the  subjects  for  their  worship  pro¬ 
grams  the  idea  which  they  thought  the  most  im¬ 
portant  in  their  course  of  study  for  the  year, — the 
thought  they  would  most  like  to  share  with  all 
the  others  in  the  department.  Then  the  director 
of  education  met  with  each  class  and  studied  with 
them  the  different  parts  of  the  usual  service  of 
worship,  showing  them  how  the  parts  were  related 
to  each  other  and  getting  from  the  children  their 
ideas  of  how  to  reach  the  interest  of  all  the  children. 
After  this  preparatory  study  of  worship  each  class 
chose  its  theme  and  built  up  its  program  around  it. 

206 


PLANNING  THE  WORSHIP  PROGRAM 


It  was  interesting  to  see  the  thoroughness  with 
which  they  searched  for  hymns  that  would  exactly 
express  what  they  wanted  to  say.  The  youngest 
class  of  girls  (fourth  grade,  aged  nine)  decided  that 
of  all  their  stories  they  liked  the  David  story  best. 
They  immediately  chose  the  best  story-teller  in 
the  class  to  tell  this  story.  They  wanted  to  use 
their  memory  selection,  psalm  twenty-three,  and 
decided  that  as  it  speaks  of  God’s  care,  they  would 
use  that  idea  as  the  central  thought  of  their  wor¬ 
ship  service.  They  met,  at  their  teacher’s  sugges¬ 
tion,  on  week  days  for  several  rehearsals  to  learn 
a  song,  “Jesus  Shepherd,”  which  the  entire  class 
sang.  Their  service  of  worship  when  finally  worked 
out  was  as  follows: 

Opening  Song  Response:  Holy,  Holy,  Holy  (al¬ 
ways  sung  by  entire  department). 

Hymn:  “The  King  of  Love  My  Shepherd  Is.” 

Story:  “David  the  Shepherd”  (by  Marjorie). 

Song:  “Jesus,  Shepherd”  (by  the  class). 

The  Shepherd’s  Psalm:  Repeated  by  the  class. 

Prayer  Song:  “Lord  of  All  Life”  (first  read  aloud 
by  entire  department  as  a  prayer  and  then  sung). 

Offertory. 

Other  services  planned  and  led  by  children  may 
be  studied  at  the  close  of  this  chapter.  The  sixth- 
grade  girls  in  planning  Service  IX  (page  217)  de¬ 
cided,  for  two  reasons,  that  they  must  have  a  drama¬ 
tization.  First,  the  fifth-grade  girls  had  had  one, 
and,  secondly,  “it  will  give  a  chance  for  every  girl 
to  do  something.”  So  the  interest  in  cooperation 
grew  as  the  groups  worked  on  this  cooperative 
enterprise,  the  planning  and  leading  of  worship. 

Another  child  interest  that  should  be  observed 

207 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


in  arranging  a  service  of  worship,  is  the  craving  for 
variety.  It  is  true  that  worship  depends  for  the 
smoothness  of  its  effect  and  the  quietness  of  its 
atmosphere  on  a  general  order  of  procedure,  which 
becomes  sufficiently  familiar  so  that  children  can 
follow  from  one  part  of  the  service  to  another  with¬ 
out  repeated  announcements  of  the  next  thing  on 
the  program.  Such  an  order  of  service  can  be  placed 
on  the  blackboard  or  on  a  printed  chart,  with  the 
numbers  of  hymns,  and  the  pages  where  prayers 
or  responses  are  to  be  found,  clearly  printed.  In 
this  way  confusion  can  be  avoided  and  attention 
to  details  need  not  detract  from  the  atmosphere  of 
worship. 

But,  although  some  order  of  service  should  be 
maintained  for  a  long  enough  period  to  enable  the 
children  to  become  familiar  with  it,  yet,  within 
this  general  order  variety  may  be  provided.  The 
hymns,  responses,  and  the  story  need  not  always 
follow  in  the  same  order.  Occasionally  a  hymn 
may  be  sung  as  a  prayer  in  place  of  a  spoken  peti¬ 
tion.  The  department  can  use  three  or  four  open¬ 
ing  responses  during  the  year,  continuing  each  one 
long  enough  to  learn  it  thoroughly. 

It  has  often  been  said  that  children  are  ritualists. 
If  this  is  so,  it  is  not  true  in  the  sense  that  they  like 
traditional  ritualism  or  worship  best  under  its 
influence.  They  may  enjoy  it,  however,  if  they 
feel  its  beauty  or  if  they  have  helped  to  make  it 
themselves,  or  if  they  have  been  brought  up  in  a 
ritualistic  church. 

Ritual  to  appeal  to  the  matter-of-fact  Junior 
must  be  simple  and  fraught  with  a  symbolism 
which  he  can  understand.  If  too  elaborate,  too 

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PLANNING  THE  WORSHIP  PROGRAM 


abstract,  or  too  highly  colored,  it  may  amuse  instead 
of  grip  him. 

THE  PLACE  OF  WORSHIP  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 

SESSION 

It  is  difficult  to  determine  upon  any  fixed  place 
for  the  service  of  worship  in  the  church-school 
session  as  long  as  there  is  such  variation  in  church 
schools  in  their  morning  schedule.  And  even  if  all 
church  schools  followed  the  same  plan,  the  place 
for  the  worship  period  probably  should  vary  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  local  situation  in  each  church. 

The  average  church  school,  in  addition  to  its  class 
periods,  provides  some  time  for  worship,  some  for 
educational  drills,  and  some  for  maintaining  school 
spirit  in  the  form  of  reports,  announcements,  etc. 
Sometimes  the  drills  are  conducted  in  the  separate 
classes,  but  in  some  schools  they  are  a  part  of  the 
general  department  program.  These  last  two — the 
drills  and  the  maintaining  of  the  school  spirit — 
should  be  kept  quite  separate  from  the  worship 
period.  It  should  be  perfectly  clear  in  the  minds 
of  the  children  when  worship  ceases  and  other  parts 
of  the  program  begin. 

In  the  majority  of  church  schools  the  service  of 
worship  probably  comes  at  the  beginning  of  the 
morning  session.  There  is  an  advantage  in  this, 
in  that  the  worship  program  with  its  uplifting  sug¬ 
gestions  sets  the  keynote  for  the  day  and  sends 
the  boys  and  girls  to  their  other  work  of  the  morn¬ 
ing  with  quiet,  anticipatory  minds.  Under  this 
plan  the  last  impression  of  the  morning  is  that  made 
in  the  classroom: 

Worship  period. 


209 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Departmental  instruction  and  tests. 

Period  for  maintaining  school  spirit. 

Class  period. 

Some  schools,  however,  have  tried  with  success 
having  the  service  of  worship  come  at  the  close  of 
the  morning  session,  commencing  with  the  class 
work.  This  means  that  the  Juniors  come  and 
settle  down  immediately  to  work  in  their  class¬ 
rooms,  and  at  the  close  of  the  morning  all  assemble 
for  the  worship  period: 

Class  period. 

Departmental  period. 

School  Spirit  period. 

Worship. 

Those  who  have  tried  this  plan  say  that  this 
makes  it  possible  to  send  the  children  home  with 
all  the  impressions  of  the  morning  caught  up  and 
tied  together  by  the  common  experience  of  wor¬ 
ship  and  also  offers  a  chance  for  the  children  to 
express,  through  worship,  all  the  cumulative  aspira¬ 
tions  aroused  during  the  morning.  However,  under 
the  first  arrangement  of  time,  each  class  may  close 
with  a  brief  period  of  worship,  so  that  there  is  pre¬ 
served  a  chance  for  quiet  prayer  and  meditation 
before  dismissal. 

There  are  also  schools  which  meet  not  only  for 
an  opening  but  also  a  closing  period  of  worship. 
In  many  schools  which  follow  this  plan  there  is  apt 
to  be  very  little  of  a  worshipful  character  in  the 
closing  period.  It  is  more  apt  to  be  used  for  reports 
and  announcements,  and  there  is  usually  a  good 
deal  of  confusion  in  the  reassembling  of  a  school 
for  such  a  short  period.  If  this  plan  is  used,  every 
care  should  be  taken  to  make  these  closing  moments 

210 


PLANNING  THE  WORSHIP  PROGRAM 


very  worshipful  and  inspiring.  It  is  hardly  worth 
while  cutting  short  the  altogether  too  brief  class 
periods  in  order  to  reassemble  a  school  or  depart¬ 
ment  unless  something  very  meaningful  in  the  way 
of  worship  is  accomplished.  It  would  be  far  better 
to  add  these  few  moments  to  the  regular  worship 
period,  thus  having  time  to  work  out  one  satisfac¬ 
tory  service  of  worship. 

Increasingly  church  schools  are  adopting  a  longer 
Sunday  morning  session,  running  for  two  or  three 
periods.  In  schools  of  this  type  the  worship  period 
may  come  between  the  class  period  and  the  period 
for  class  expression  or  service.  There  are  various 
arrangements  of  this  kind.  The  morning  schedule 
would  run,  then,  somewhat  as  follows: 

Class  period. 

Departmental  instruction. 

Period  for  school  spirit. 

Worship. 

Class  period. 

Each  leader  will  have  to  study  his  group  and  the 
situation  in  his  own  school  and  determine  by  such 
study  and  by  some  experimentation  where  the 
worship  service  can  be  introduced  most  effectively 
into  the  morning  program. 

Wherever  worship  comes  it  should  have  its  definite 
amount  of  time  allotted  to  it,  and  it  should  not, 
except  on  special  occasions,  run  over  that  time. 
It  requires  time  to  worship  “in  spirit  and  in  truth” 
just  as  it  requires  time  to  acquire  information,  and 
and  each  church  school  should  work  to  gain  more 
time  for  its  entire  educational  program.  But  in 
the  school  which  has  only  sixty  minutes  for  its  entire 
Sunday  morning  program  not  more  than  fifteen 


2 II 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


or  twenty  minutes  should  be  allowed  for  worship. 
The  teachers  should  understand  that  they  will  have 
at  least  thirty-five  or  forty  minutes  in  which  to 
teach,  for  the  teaching  process  cannot  be  hurried. 

TYPES  OF  JUNIOR  SERVICES  OF  WORSHIP 

Service  I 

Theme:  “Willing  to  Help.” 

Instrumental  Prelude. 

Call  to  Worship  (by  leader). 

“If  I  can  stop  one  heart  from  breaking, 

I  shall  not  live  in  vain. 

If  I  can  ease  one  life  the  aching, 

Or  cool  one  pain, 

Or  help  one  fainting  robin 
Unto  his  nest  again, 

I  shall  not  live  in  vain.” 

(Quoted  in  Hymnal  j or  American  Youth,  p.  3  5 .  Century  Co.) 

Hymn:  “ Galilee”  ( Hymnal  for  American  Youth , 
No.  99). 

Unison  Scripture:  1  Corinthians  13. 

Story:  “Little  Gavroche”  (reprinted  from  Everyland 
in  Stories  for  Worship ,  Hartshorne). 

Prayer  (by  leader). 

Hymn:  “I  Would  Be  True”  ( Hymnal  for  American 
Youth ,  No.  170). 

Offertory. 

Unison  Prayer. 

Service  II 

Theme:  “Heroism — Doing  Hard  Things.” 
Instrumental  Prelude. 

Opening  Song  Response: 

Holy,  holy,  holy,  Lord  God  of  Hosts, 

Heav’n  and  earth  are  full  of  thee, 

212 


PLANNING  THE  WORSHIP  PROGRAM 


Heav’n  and  earth  are  praising  thee, 

O  Lord,  most  High.  Amen. 

(See  Book  of  Worship.) 

Psalm  91:  The  Soldier’s  Psalm  (in  unison). 

Hymn:  “Soldiers  of  Christ,  Arise.” 

Story:  “A  Brave  Soldier  of  Jesus  Christ”  (see  Here 
and  There  Stories). 

Prayer  of  Faith  (in  unison.  See  Book  of  Worship , 
page  8). 

Offertory  Hymn:  “Stand  Up,  Stand  Up  for  Jesus.” 

Service  III 

Theme:  “God  With  Us.” 

Instrumental  Prelude. 

Opening  Song  Response:  “The  Lord  is  in  his  holy 
temple;  let  all  the  people  keep  silence  before  him” 
{Junior  Hymns  and  Carols). 

Psalm  100  (in  unison). 

Hymn:  “Summer  Suns  Are  Glowing”  {Hymnal  for 
American  Youth ,  No.  52). 

Story:  “The  Man  Who  Conquered  Because  He 
Knew  His  God  Was  With  Him— Gideon.” 

Prayer  (by  leader). 

Song  Prayer:  “Lord  of  All  Life”  {Book  of  Worship , 
No.  102);  or  “Our  God,  Our  Help”  {Hymnal  for 
American  Youth ,  No.  68). 

Service  IV 

Theme:  “The  Unfinished  Task.” 

Instrumental  Prelude:  Negro  Melodies. 

Call  to  Worship  (by  leader) : 

“O  beautiful  for  spacious  skies, 

For  amber  waves  of  grain, 

For  purple  mountain  majesties 
Above  the  fruited  plain. 

213 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


America,  America! 

God  shed  his  grace  on  thee, 

And  crown  thy  good  with  brotherhood, 

From  sea  to  shining  sea.” 

Hymn:  “America  the  Beautiful.” 

Salute  to  the  American  Flag. 

Story:  “The  Unfinished  Task.”  The  story  of  the 
work  begun  and  continued  by  Abraham  Lincoln 
and  Booker  T.  Washington.  American  boys  and 
girls  to  finish  the  work  begun. 

Prayer  (by  leader):  Our  Father,  we  thank  thee  for 
the  great  work  begun  by  men  like  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  Booker  Washington.  We  thank  thee 
that  we  can  help  finish  the  work  which  they  began 
for  the  Negro  boys  and  girls  in  this  land  of  ours. 
We  are  sorry  that  these  boys  and  girls  have  some¬ 
times  been  unhappy.  Help  us  always  to  be  kind 
and  friendly  to  the  people  of  other  races  who 
have  come  to  live  with  us  as  our  brothers  and 
sisters.  Make  us  willing  to  give  money  and  serv¬ 
ice  so  that  they  too  may  be  happy  as  we  are  in 
America,  the  beautiful.  Amen. 

Lincoln’s  Dedication  from  the  Gettysburg  Speech 
(by  all  in  unison). 

Hymn:  “0  Zion,  Haste.”  (Leader  emphasize 
meaning  of  last  verse,  “Give  of  thy  sons,”  before 
the  hymn  is  sung.) 

Salute  to  the  Christian  Flag: 

I  pledge  allegiance  to  my  flag  and  to  the  Saviour 
for  whose  kingdom  it  stands,  one  brotherhood 
uniting  all  mankind  in  service  and  love. 

Hymn:  “Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic.” 

214 


PLANNING  THE  WORSHIP  PROGRAM 


Service  V 

(For  some  spring  Sunday  preceding  Easter) 
Theme:  “ Awakening  Life.” 

Instrumental  Prelude:  “Spring  Song”  (Mendelssohn) 
Call  to  Worship: 

“Holy,  holy,  holy,  Lord  God  of  Hosts, 

Heav’n  and  earth  are  full  of  thee, 

Heav’n  and  earth  are  praising  thee, 

O  Lord  Most  High.” 

(See  Book  of  Worship ,  Hartshome,  Charles  Scribner’s  Sons.) 
Psalm  ioo  (in  unison). 

Hymn:  “This  Is  My  Father’s  World”  (tune,  “Cor¬ 
onation”)  {Hymnal  for  American  Youth ,  No.  46). 
Song  by  Junior  Choir:  “Sing,  for  the  World  Re¬ 
joices”  {Hymnal  for  American  Youth ,  No.  51). 
Story:  “The  Boy  Who  Discovered  Spring.”  (See 
The  Knight  of  the  Silver  Shield ,  Alden.) 

Prayer  {Stories  for  Worship ,  page  107). 

Hymn:  “The  Snow  Has  Vanished  From  the  Hills” 
{Book  of  Worship ,  No.  123). 

Service  V I 
(For  Easter  Sunday) 

Instrumental  Prelude:  Group  of  springtime  hymns — 
“Sing,  for  the  World  Rejoices”;  “This  Is  My 
Father’s  World”;  “The  Snow  Has  Vanished.” 

Call  to  Worship  (by  leader) : 

“God  hath  sent  his  angels  to  the  earth  again, 
Bringing  joyful  tidings  to  the  sons  of  men: 

They  who  first  at  Christmas  thronged  the  heavenly 
way, 

Now  beside  the  tomb  door  sit  on  Easter  day. 
Angels  sing  his  triumph,  as  you  sang  his  birth, 

215 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Christ  the  Lord  is  risen, 

Peace,  good  will  on  earth.” 

The  Lord’s  Prayer. 

Hymn:  “God  Hath  Sent  His  Angels”  (Hymnal  for 
American  Youth ,  No.  115). 

Story:  “The  Little  Boy  Who  Was  Scaret  o’  Dyin’  ” 
(see  Story  Tell  Lib ,  Slosson). 

Prayer. 

Hymn:  “The  Snow  Has  Vanished  From  the  Hills.” 

Service  VII 

(For  Easter) 

Theme:  “Unending  Life.” 

Instrumental  Prelude. 

Call  to  Worship:  First  verse  of  “Rejoice,  Ye  Pure 
in  Heart.” 

Hymn:  “Rejoice,  Ye  Pure  in  Heart.” 

Story:  “Some  Lives  That  Could  Not  Die.”  (Weav¬ 
ing  together  lives  of  Livingstone,  Alice  Jackson, 
Borden  of  Yale.) 

Scripture:  Hebrews  n.  32-34  and  39-40.  Also 
Hebrews  12.  1-2. 

Prayer:  “A  Prayer  of  Faith”  (in  unison.  Book  of 
Worship ,  page  8). 

Hymn:  “For  All  Thy  Saints.”  (First  three  verses, 
emphasizing  the  third.) 

Easter  Offertory. 

(The  following  services  were  planned  and  led  by 
Juniors). 

Service  VIII 

(Planned  and  led  by  sixth-grade  girls  and  boys) 

Theme:  “The  Life  of  Jesus.”  (Based  on  the  Course 
of  Study  for  the  year  and  including  their  memory 

216 


PLANNING  THE  WORSHIP  PROGRAM 


work,  the  Beatitudes  and  the  hymn,  “Holy,  Holy, 
Holy.”) 

Opening  Response  and  Call  to  Worship:  “Holy, 
holy,  holy.”  (Sung  by  the  class  alone  as  this  was 
their  memory  work.) 

Hymn:  “Once  in  Royal  David’s  City.” 

Story:  Some  Stories  of  Jesus.  (The  sixth-grade 
children  represented  some  children  in  Jerusalem 
soon  after  the  death  of  Jesus.  One  of  the  boys 
took  the  part  of  Peter  who  told  them  the  stories 
he  remembered  about  Jesus.  At  the  close  he 
called  upon  them  to  recite  some  of  the  sayings 
of  Jesus  which  he  is  supposed  to  have  taught 
them  on  a  previous  visit.) 

The  Beatitudes  (recited  by  the  sixth  grades). 

Letter  (read  by  a  girl).  (This  letter  was  supposed 
to  have  been  written  by  a  girl  in  Capernaum  to 
one  in  Jerusalem  telling  about  the  first  time  she 
ever  saw  Jesus.)1 

Dramatization  of  one  of  Jesus’  Stories,  “The  Parable  • 
of  the  Wise  and  Foolish  Virgins,”  by  sixth-grade 
girls. 

Jesus’  Prayer. 

Service  IX 

(Planned  and  led  by  sixth-grade  girls) 

Theme:  “The  Last  Command  of  Jesus  and  Its  Ful¬ 
fillment.”  (This  service  was  planned  and  carried 
out  by  the  sixth-grade  girls,  using  their  Course 
of  Study,  “The  Life  of  Paul  and  the  Early  Mis¬ 
sionaries”  as  a  basis.  It  includes  their  memory 
work,  “The  Last  Command  of  Jesus,”  and  the 
hymn,  “Faith  of  Our  Fathers.”) 


1  See  Chapter  VI,  page  102. 


217 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Opening  Hymn:  “The  Song  of  the  New  Crusade.” 
Story:  The  Story  of  Two  Young  Men,  Paul  and 
Jesus. 

The  Last  Words  of  Paul:  “I  have  fought  a  good 
fight.” 

The  Last  Command  of  Jesus:  Repeated  by  the  class. 
Story:  “To  the  Lions  With  the  Christians!” 

Song:  “Faith  of  Our  Fathers.” 

Dramatization:  “The  New  Life  Coming  to  Chundra 
Lela  ” 

A  Prayer  of  Faith  (unison). 

Hymn:  “We’ve  a  Story  to  Tell  to  the  Nations.” 

For  Further  Reading: 

Augustine  Smith — Hymnal  for  American  Youth. 
Josephine  L  Baldwin — Services  and  Songs  for  Junior 
Department. 

Hartshorne — Book  of  Worship. 

Hartshorne — Stories  for  Worship,  Chapters  I-IV 
inclusive. 

S towel! — Story  Worship  Programs  for  the  Church 
School  Year. 

8  See  Junior  Hymns  and  Carols,  Leyda  Publishing  Company,  p.  48. 


2l8 


CHAPTER  XIV 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  ACTIVITY 

To  develop  men  and  women  with  capacity  to 
enter  whole-heartedly  and  vigorously  into  the 
activities  of  the  Christian  program  is  the  goal  of 
religious  education.  But  such  activity  must  be  the 
fulfillment  of  inner  desire;  it  springs  from  within 
instead  of  being  enforced  from  without.  When  one 
transcends  self  in  one’s  devotion  to  a  larger  good 
there  is  the  highest  personal  satisfaction. 

But  how  shall  we  secure  this  activity  which  springs 
from  within?  The  church  needs  it  and  seeks  it  in 
its  training  for  leadership.  Education  recognizes 
its  value.  How  can  it  be  achieved? 

Not  only  do  the  world,  the  community,  and  the 
church  need  active  personalities,  but  the  individual 
needs  whole-hearted  activity  for  the  development 
of  his  highest  powers.  Educators  have  come  to 
see  that  a  person’s  ability  to  initiate,  to  choose 
rightly,  to  lead,  is  developed  more  surely  and  more 
quickly  if  while  he  is  being  educated  he  is  given  a 
chance  to  initiate  plans,  to  make  choices,  to  discover 
for  himself  newer  and  better  ways  of  doing  things. 

Let  us  see  how  a  Junior  Christian  may  be  educated 
religiously  through  a  program  which  makes  a  large 
place  for  the  right  use  of  activity. 

ACTIVITY  AND  THE  LEARNING  PROCESS 

It  has  long  been  recognized  that  “learning”  is 
not  a  process  from  without,  but  an  inner  activity 

219 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


of  the  mind.  Dr.  Dewey  says,  “In  critical  moments 
we  all  realize  that  the  only  discipline  that  stands 
by  us,  the  only  training  that  becomes  intuition,  is 
that  got  through  life  itself U’  The  reason  for  this 
is  that  in  “life”  the  individual  is  plunged  into  the 
midst  of  activities  which  concern  him  so  greatly 
that  he  is  obliged  to  participate  in  them  and  to 
learn  their  lessons.  Without  activity  the  pupil 
cannot  learn.  Without  that  same  activity  of  the 
learner,  the  teacher  cannot  teach. 

TYPES  OF  ACTIVITY 

Activity  is  thought  of  in  different  ways.  Since 
all  kinds  of  activity  are  not  equally  valuable — and 
by  that  we  mean  equally  educative — we  need  to 
consider  at  least  three  types  which  are  used  in 
teaching  boys  and  girls.  By  comparison  we  can 
get  some  idea  of  the  relative  value  of  each. 

Activity  as  mere  outlet  for  energy. — We  have 
seen  in  earlier  chapters  that  there  is  a  legitimate 
use  to  be  made  of  this  kind  of  activity.  Energy 
cannot  be  suppressed;  it  must  be  expressed.  If 
not  expressed  constructively,  it  will  find  ways  of 
dissipating  itself,  some  of  them  harmful,  or  at  least, 
wasteful.  The  Junior  who  is  kept  busy  is  more 
apt  to  be  interested  than  the  one  for  whom  time 
drags.  There  is  a  value  in  this  kind  of  expression 
and  many  Sunday  programs  fail  of  their  greatest 
usefulness,  just  because  the  Junior  is  kept  too 
passive  and  not  given  enough  chance  to  let  out  the 
pent-up  energy  which  he  feels. 

Activity  planned  by  adults. — When  the  plan  for  the 
Junior’s  activity  has  been  well  thought  out,  appeals 
to  his  interests,  and  meets  his  ideas  of  what  is 

220 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  ACTIVITY 

worth  while,  then  we  have  a  more  educational 
use  of  activity.  In  the  past  most  of  the  service 
programs  or  the  expressional  work  in  connection 
with  the  lesson  study  have  been  of  this  kind.  Wher¬ 
ever  there  have  been  teachers  of  unusual  insight, 
or  a  peculiarly  “trying”  class  which  has  demanded 
some  method  different  from  the  standard  one,  more 
attention  has  been  paid  to  what  the  boys  and  girls 
themselves  have  wanted  to  do. 

Activities  initiated  by  the  child. — A  few  church 
schools,  acting  under  a  freer  method  of  discipline, 
have  found  it  possible  to  get  away  from  overhead 
programs  and  to  try  to  see  if  the  children  themselves 
have  any  worth-while  purposes  which  they  can 
follow  out,  with  the  help  of  the  teacher,  and  thus 
gain  practice  in  self-directed  social  endeavor.  This 
kind  of  education  affords  real  practice  in  living, 
for  it  is  living  itself. 

THE  PROJECT  METHOD  IN  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

The  utilization  of  the  pupil’s  own  purposes  in 
active  projects  has  been  called,  for  want  of  a  better 
term,  the  “project  method.”  The  name  simply 
indicates  that  when  this  method  is  used  something 
is  projected.  Education  swings  around  an  orbit  in 
its  progress  and  in  succeeding  generations  strikes 
with  special  emphasis  different  arcs  on  the  educa¬ 
tional  curve.  This  is  wholesome;  it  keeps  us  from 
stagnation.  Just  at  present  the  educational  pioneers 
are  emphasizing  an  old,  familiar  law  and  calling 
it  by  a  new  name.  “What,  utilize  the  child’s  own 
interests,  his  activity,  his  freedom?  Why,  that  is 
as  old  as  Froebel  and  Pestalozzi!”  we  exclaim. 

This  is  true,  but  we  see  the  application  of  this 


221 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


law  in  a  new  social  situation,  with  children  of  a 
different  environment,  and  against  a  background 
of  newer  discoveries  in  psychology.  As  we  seek  to 
apply  it  to  our  present-day  teaching  it  becomes 
almost  new  in  its  manner  of  working.  What,  then, 
is  a  project?  And  what  may  we  expect  the  use 
of  this  method  to  accomplish  for  our  Juniors? 

Defining  a  project. — A  project  is  any  undertak¬ 
ing  which  makes  use  of  children’s  own  purposes 
and  which,  therefore,  calls  into  play  the  child’s 
spontaneous  efforts.  There  may  be  individual 
projects,  according  to  some  thinkers,  but  we  are 
concerned  chiefly  with  those  undertakings  which 
express  the  will  of  a  group  of  children  and  are, 
therefore,  dominantly  social. 

A  Junior  class  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  is 
given  its  choice  of  three  or  four  textbooks  to  study. 
Among  them  are  Livingstone  Hero  Stories ,  Old 
Country  Hero  Stories ,  a  course  of  Bible  Hero  stories. 
They  choose,  first,  to  study  Livingstone,  which  they 
proceed  to  do  for  a  month.  Then  they  ask  if  they 
may  follow  this  with  some  heroes  who  lived  in 
America,  so  they  study  for  another  month  or  so 
the  Old  Country  Heroes . 

During  this  study  they  become  interested  in  some 
Americanization  work  with  foreign  boys  and  girls 
as  well  as  the  work  of  a  mission  station  in  Africa. 
The  teacher  asks  if  they  would  like  to  share  what 
they  have  so  greatly  enjoyed  in  their  hero  stories 
with  some  other  group  of  children.  One  child  sug¬ 
gests  a  group  of  Italian  children  in  a  settlement. 
Then  comes  the  suggestion  that  for  these  children 
in  the  American  public  schools  good  textbooks  on 
heroes  are  available. 


222 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  ACTIVITY 


The  next  idea  is,  “Let  us,  then,  write  a  book 
about  heroes  for  some  African  boys  and  girls. ” 
But,  comes  the  next  thought,  “Would  these  African 
children  be  able  to  read  the  English  language?” 
They  decide  to  think  this  over  for  a  week.  By  the 
following  Sunday  the  church  missionary  has  sug¬ 
gested  that  in  the  school  in  India  where  she  teaches 
they  use  English  lessons  for  the  children  and  that 
such  textbooks  as  they  might  write  would  be  used 
there  gladly  by  herself  and  other  teachers,  espe¬ 
cially  if  they  were  well  illustrated  with  attractive 
pictures. 

So  the  class  votes  to  set  to  work  on  its  task. 
Next  comes  the  work  of  deciding  upon  which  heroes 
shall  go  into  the  books.  Which  ones  will  we  most 
enjoy  using?  Will  these  be  the  heroes  who  will 
appeal  particularly  to  Indian  boys  and  girls?  Must 
we  select  only  the  heroes  whom  we  have  already 
studied  or  may  we  include  some  new  ones?  After 
great  deliberation  the  following  heroes  are  chosen: 

1.  Daniel  in  the  Lions’  Den. 

2.  David  and  Goliath. 

3.  Joseph  and  His  Coat  of  Many  Colors. 

4.  Samson. 

5.  The  Trial  of  Abraham’s  Faith. 

6.  Jonah  and  the  Whale. 

7.  Livingstone’s  Fight  With  the  Lion. 

8.  John  Huss. 

The  reasons  for  all  the  choices  may  not  be  apparent, 
but  in  every  case  they  thought  there  was  some 
quality  in  this  hero  which  those  far-away  children 
would  appreciate.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that, 
almost  to  a  child,  they  thought  some  Bible  heroes 
ought  to  be  included.  This  meant  that,  in  order 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


to  write  their  stories,  the  group  had  first  to  study 
the  material  in  the  very  course  of  Bible  heroes  which 
they  passed  by  in  the  fall  when  they  made  their 
first  choice  of  textbooks.  And  they  studied  these 
lives  now  with  no  forced  interest,  but  for  a  pur¬ 
pose  which  was  their  own,  and  with  a  whole-hearted 
enthusiasm  which  their  study  in  other  years  had 
lacked. 

Then  came  the  telling  of  some  of  the  new  stories 
by  the  teacher,  the  retelling  of  old  ones  by  class 
members,  the  consulting  of  books  to  verify  facts, 
the  selection  of  material  out  of  which  to  make 
the  notebooks,  the  writing  of  their  hero  tales,  and, 
finally,  the  choice  of  appropriate  pictures  for  illus¬ 
trations.  Incidentally,  there  was  involved  some 
learning  about  the  boys  and  girls  in  India  to  whom 
the  books  were  to  go,  about  their  home  and  school 
life,  and  the  social  customs  which  would  give  them 
certain  interests. 

This  is  simply  one  illustration  of  a  project,  but 
it  suggests  some  of  the  main  features  of  this  method. 
It  indicates  that  when  this  kind  of  activity  is  made 
the  basis  of  teaching,  the  method  utilizes  the  child’s 

Spontaneous  interest 
Purposeful  activity 
Creative  power 

in  a  thoroughgoing  way  and  in  a  social  and  dem¬ 
ocratic  way. 

These  things  are  to  be  remembered.  The  project 
method  is  not  new.  To  some  degree  it  has  always 
been  used  by  good  teachers.  It  is  simply  a  new 
emphasis  of  an  old  principle  of  teaching.  In  the 
second  place,  the  project  method  is  not  so  much 
a  method  as  an  approach  to  the  teaching  process. 

224 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  ACTIVITY 


It  does  not  mean  the  laying  aside  of  all  the  cus¬ 
tomary  methods  of  teaching.  It  involves  the  use 
of  all  of  these — study,  research,  recitation,  even 
memory  and  drill  and  surely  adult  supervision. 
r  But  because  it  makes  a  place  for  the  child  to  choose 
and  to  will  he  enters  into  all  these  customary  learn¬ 
ing  processes  with  the  utmost  of  his  endeavor  and, 
therefore,  gets  the  utmost  of  learning  out  of  them. 

In  the  third  place,  this  method  does  not  mean 
the  mere  following  of  childish  whims.  It  does  not 
mean  that  every  idea  suggested  by  every  child  must 
be  followed  by  him  or  by  the  group.  But  it  acts 
on  the  assumption  that  the  child  is  naturally  active 
especially  along  social  lines.  As  Dr.  Kilpatrick 
says:  “There  is  no  normal  boy  but  has  already 
many  socially  desirable  interests  and  is  capable 
of  many  more.  It  is  the  special  duty  and  oppor¬ 
tunity  of  the  teacher  to  guide  the  pupil  through 
his  present  interests  and  achievement  into  the  wider 
interests  and  achievement  demanded  by  the  wider 
social  life  of  the  older  world. ”l 

The  project  method  does  not  mean  the  abdica¬ 
tion  of  the  teacher.  Never  is  there  more  need  for 
the  teacher  to  assist  with  his  knowledge  of  life  and 
his  richer  experience  than  when  children  are  attempt¬ 
ing  to  discover  truth  and  to  accomplish  a  task  of 
their  own  choosing.  The  only  difference  is  that 
the  teacher,  instead  of  being  an  autocrat  over  his 
group,  becomes,  what  every  good  teacher  has  always 
and  must  always  be,  a  member  of  the  class,  sharing 
with  his  pupils  the  discovery  of  truth,  the  work  on 
a  common  task. 

1  William  Heard  Kilpatrick,  “A  Project  Method:  The  Use  of  the  Purposeful 
in  the  Educative  Process,”  Teachers  College  Bulletin,  No.  io.  Series  No.  3, 
October  12,  19x8.  Published  by  Teachers  College,  New  York  City. 

225 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Some  values  of  the  project  method. — One  of 

the  first  results  from  allowing  children  to  enter 
upon  properly  directed  projects  is  that  it  makes 
intelligent  Christians.  If  boys  and  girls  are  allowed 
some  chance  to  choose  between  different  possibil¬ 
ities  of  action,  they  will  learn  by  experience  which 
are  right  and  which  are  wrong.  They  will  not  be 
apt  to  repeat  past  mistakes.  Their  decisions  in 
matters  of  conduct  will  tend  to  become  more  and 
more  nearly  right.  In  order  to  make  choices  they 
will  need  to  know  more  than  one  line  of  thought  or 
more  than  one  possibility  of  action.  They  achieve 
the  power  of  forming  practical,  moral  judgments. 

Thus  children  become  Christians  who  can  pro¬ 
mote  the  Christian  cause  in  the  world  intelligently. 
They  will  be  well  informed  Christians.  As  we  have 
already  seen,  one  cannot  choose  wisely  unless  one 
knows  how  to  choose.  When  a  child  is  face  to  face 
with  a  situation  of  his  own  selection,  where  he  is 
responsible  for  seeing  it  through,  he  suddenly  be¬ 
comes  aware  of  the  need  of  facts  upon  which  to  base 
his  decision.  Here  is  where  the  teacher  may  need 
to  come  in,  to  help  reveal  to  the  child  what  kind  of 
knowledge  he  needs  for  this  particular  task.  In¬ 
stead  of  minimizing  the  need  of  information,  this 
method  emphasizes  it. 

Children  educated  in  this  way  will  be  skillful 
Christians.  A  wise  use  of  the  project  method  in¬ 
volves  providing  the  Juniors  with  life  situations 
in  which  to  act,  and  with  certain  definite  tasks 
of  their  own  choosing  in  which  Christian  prin¬ 
ciples  are  involved.  Here  again  the  need  of  the 
adult  leader  is  paramount.  Children  need  his  help 
to  discover  larger  and  more  meaningful  purposes 

226 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  ACTIVITY 


within  themselves.  Thus  practice  in  real  living  is 
provided,  for  the  classroom  becomes  a  piece  of 
life  itself. 

Actual  skill  in  being  a  Christian  is  developed 
when  boys  and  girls  are  given  a  chance  actually 
to  “try  Christianity’ ’  and  to  learn  through  the  try¬ 
ing.  It  is  the  application  of  the  old  law,  “Learn 
by  doing.”  There  is  a  chance  for  skill  to  develop 
when  children  are  engaged  in  a  variety  of  activities. 
The  individual  differences  among  them  can  be 
taken  into  account.  Let  the  child  make  that  con¬ 
tribution  to  this  common  undertaking  which  he  is 
best  fitted  to  make  and  he  will  more  easily  find 
his  place,  ultimately,  in  the  life  of  the  church. 

Children,  under  this  method,  are  more  likely  to 
become  cooperative  Christians .  Cooperation  means 
“working  together.”  Working  together  can  be 
learned  only  by  actually  entering  with  others  upon 
a  joint  task.  It  is  not  learned  by  talking  about  it, 
only  by  doing  it.  The  Junior  who  shares  a  purpose 
with  his  classmates  must  have,  to  carry  out  this 
joint  purpose,  not  only  a  will  of  his  own  but  also  a 
social  will.  He  learns  how  to  give  up  his  own  will 
to  that  of  a  larger  number  or  how  to  convince 
others  if  he  feels  a  burning  conviction  within  him. 

And,  last  of  all,  the  Junior  Christian  who  is 
allowed  some  opportunity  to  enter  into  “purposeful 
activity”  will  be  a  loyal  Christian.  It  is  of  the  very 
essence  of  loyalty  to  attach  itself  to  a  cause  of 
the  individual’s  own  choosing.  If  Juniors  are  given 
many  chances  to  choose  worth-while  Christian 
tasks,  they  will  be  more  apt  to  work  at  them  de¬ 
votedly.  And,  when  they  graduate  from  the  Junior 
Department,  every  purposeful  task  they  have 

227 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


enjoyed  acts  as  a  link  in  the  chain  binding  them 
and  their  interest  to  the  undying  service  of  Chris¬ 
tianity. 

Examples  of  Junior  projects. — A  reference  to 
one  or  two  such  projects  may  be  suggestive  of  the 
kinds  which  some  leaders  have  worked  out  with 
their  groups. 

One  is  that  of  a  missionary  service2  which  was 
worked  out  with  a  certain  group  of  Juniors.  The 
children  decided  to  learn  all  they  could  about 
“Our  American  Neighbors.”  With  this  end  in 
view  they  spent  delightful  hours  with  storybooks 
of  life  in  the  Philippines,  Alaska,  the  mountains 
of  the  South,  the  lumber  camps  of  the  North,  the 
adobe  villages  of  Mexico.  As  they  studied  they 
made  reproductions  of  community  life  in  these 
different  places,  making  with  their  own  hands  all 
the  objects  used  in  each  village  or  camp.  The  boys 
fashioned  houses  and  farming  implements;  the 
girls  dressed  dolls  and  made  tents.  Together  they 
put  their  handiwork  in  place.  They  looked  through 
magazines  for  pictures  to  guide  them.  They  sought 
for  stories  of  adventure  and  heroism  among  these 
“American  Neighbors”  of  theirs. 

They  put  the  whole  thing  together  on  long  tables 
around  the  Junior  room  in  order  that  the  public 
might  see  it.  The  Juniors  explained  it  all  to  their 
visitors  by  stories  read,  songs  sung,  or  by  informal 
talks.  When  Children’s  Day  came,  they  presented 
the  continuous  story  of  the  year’s  work  in  a  pageant 
for  which  they  wrote  the  parts  and  made  the  cos¬ 
tumes.  The  illustrations3  will  show  quite  clearly 

2  Alma  Schilling,  “Under  Our  Flag,”  in  The  Church  School,  November,  1920. 

8  See  illustration  facing  p.  228. 


228 


Brick  Church,  Rochester,  New  York 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  ACTIVITY 


the  extent  and  the  fascination  of  this  kind  of  a 
project.  It  also  included  service  work  and  the 
giving  of  money  to  some  of  the  more  needy  “Amer¬ 
ican  neighbors.” 

One  Junior  Department  in  a  Congregational 
church  school  took  its  part  in  a  school  project 
during  the  year  of  the  tercentenary  celebration  of 
the  Pilgrims.  The  school  project  for  the  year  cen¬ 
tered  around  the  Pilgrim  spirit.  It  involved  a  study 
of  the  early  Pilgrim  ideal  and  was  followed  by 
stories  of  denominational  heroes.  The  study  of 
denominational  missions  was  stressed  for  that  year. 
Each  department,  including  the  Juniors,  made  a 
special  study  of  some  special  phase  of  home  or 
foreign  missionary  work.  Services  of  worship  were 
centered  around  the  Pilgrim  ideals  of  courage, 
loyalty,  freedom,  democracy. 

Boys  and  girls  even  in  the  Junior  Department 
helped  to  plan  and  work  out  some  of  these  services 
of  worship.  Each  class  and  department  engaged  in 
some  service  work  for  a  home  or  foreign  mission 
station.  The  church  missionary  and  his  family 
were  home  on  furlough  from  China  that  year. 
They  were  made  much  of  and  contributed  largely 
to  the  success  of  the  enterprise. 

On  the  night  of  the  Christmas  entertainment  the 
church  school  gave  a  pageant  which  the  boys  and 
girls  worked  out  themselves,  called  “Children  of 
the  Pilgrim  Spirit.”  In  the  various  scenes  of  the 
pageant  each  department  acted  out  what  it  had 
been  doing  as  its  service  work  for  the  year.  The 
Juniors,  with  the  aid  of  the  church  missionary  and 
his  family,  gave  a  hospital  scene  in  far-away  China, 
where  their  box  of  gifts  prepared  for  the  June  Christ- 

229. 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


mas  tree  had  just  arrived  and  was  being  opened 
for  the  patients  on  Christmas  eve. 

This  project  indicates  how  the  activities  of  the 
different  departments  in  one  school  can  be  tied 
together  for  one  year,  thus  giving  a  sense  of  unity 
while  it  allows  for  infinite  variety  within  each  group. 

TESTING  THE  ACTIVITY  OF  THE  JUNIOR  DEPARTMENT 

Wherever  church  schools  are  making  use  of  the 
children’s  activity,  it  is  important  that  the  pro¬ 
grams  be  subjected  to  one  or  two  tests  to  find  out 
if  the  activities  are  those  which  are  of  greatest  value. 

Is  it  purposeful? — Let  us  ask  ourselves  frankly, 
How  much  allowance  are  we  making  for  the  Junior’s 
own  choices?  Without  disrupting  our  program  can 
we  so  reorganize  it  that  the  boys  and  girls  may 
make  more  of  a  contribution  as  we  plan  with  them 
— not  always  for  them — the  activities  of  the  year? 

Is  it  worth  while? — This  is  a  searching  question. 
It  is  the  writer’s  belief  that  we  need  to  reexamine 
the  tasks  set  for  Juniors  in  the  light  of  this  question. 
Undoubtedly,  much  activity  in  Junior  Depart¬ 
ments  is  not  worth  while  as  over  against  the  crying 
needs  of  the  child  himself  and  of  the  world  in  which 
he  lives.  How  much  of  the  writing  of  answers,  the 
pasting  of  pictures,  the  making  of  scrapbooks  is 
really  worth  while?  These  things  may  be  decidedly 
worth  while  if  they  serve  desirable  ends  and  if  they 
are  not  the  only  kind  of  activity  provided. 

Is  it  self-directed? — This  means  simply  that 
activity  to  produce  the  most  effective  results  must 
not  only  grow  out  of  the  Junior’s  own  interests, 
but  he  must,  after  choosing  it,  go  to  work  on  it 
himself.  Are  we  doing  too  much  for  our  Juniors 

230 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  ACTIVITY 


to  develop  in  them  reliance  and  dependability?  Can 
we  restrain  our  own  desire  to  do  it,  when  we  know 
we  can  do  it  better,  and  have  the  patience  to  let 
our  Junior  bungle  it  a  little  in  order  that  he  may 
learn  how? 

Is  it  yielding  Christian  results? — It  is  quite  con¬ 
ceivable  that  some  activities  which  are  thoroughly 
desirable  in  themselves  may  not  be  developing 
Christian  traits  because  of  the  way  in  which  they 
are  being  carried  out.  Juniors  have  not  yet  learned 
all  the  best  ways  of  working  together.  It  requires 
the  active  presence  of  the  teacher  at  every  point 
to  see  that  children  are  considerate  of  their  fellow 
workers,  that  they  are  thoroughgoing  in  their 
search  for  truth,  that  they  are  neat  and  particular 
in  any  manual  work.  It  is  not  only  important 
that  children  shall  act,  but  that  they  shall  act 
rightly.  An  enterprise  is  Christian  not  only  by 
reason  of  the  end  achieved,  but  also  because  of  the 
Christian  spirit  of  those  carrying  it  on. 

For  Further  Reading: 

Stockton — Project  Work  in  Education. 

Thorndike — “Education  for  Initiative  and  Orig¬ 
inality,5  ’  Teachers  College  Record ,  October  25, 
1919.  (Secure  from  Teachers  College  Book 
Store,  New  York;  price,  25  cents.) 

Kilpatrick — “The  Project  Method,5'  Teachers 
College  Record ,  October  12,  1918;  price,  25 
cents. 


231 


CHAPTER  XV 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  MANUAL  WORK 

Conspicuous  in  books  on  methods  in  the  church 
school  is  the  term  “handwork.”  When  church- 
school  leaders  first  caught  the  vision  of  what  activ¬ 
ity  could  do  in  the  religious  education  of  a  boy  and 
girl,  they  confined  their  idea  of  activity  almost 
entirely  to  that  carried  on  by  the  hand.  It  was  a 
much-needed  vision,  and  the  introduction  of  hand¬ 
work  into  the  elementary  grades  did  much  to  make 
over  the  conceptions  of  teaching,  the  classroom 
procedure,  the  attitude  of  boys  and  girls  toward 
their  work,  and  the  results  of  teaching  in  terms  of 
deeper  interest  and  greater  effort. 

With  more  and  more  study  of  the  relation  of 
activity  to  the  learning  process  and  with  a  better 
understanding  of  children,  however,  we  have  come 
to  think  of  activity  as  not  limited  to  the  muscles 
of  the  hand  but  as  employing  the  whole  personality 
of  the  child.  Instead  of  giving  a  reason  for  not 
having  handwork,  we  now  are  called  upon  to  give 
our  reasons  for  using  it.  In  other  words,  what  we 
are  seeking  is  the  development  of  all-round  per¬ 
sonalities  and  the  most  effective  means  of  develop¬ 
ing  them. 

What  kinds  of  expression  do  children  need  for 
such  development?  If  they  need  expression  through 
manual  work,  we  shall  offer  it  to  them.  But  what 
kinds  of  manual  work  are  worth  their  time  and 

232 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  MANUAL  WORK 


effort?  Why  provide  for  expression  through  the 
hand,  and  how  shall  we  make  it  productive  of 
religious  growth? 

REASONS  FOR  MANUAL  WORK 

The  reasons  for  the  use  of  manual  education  in 
the  Junior  Department  are  not  hard  to  find.  Possi¬ 
bly  some  of  them  have  seemed  more  imperative 
than  they  really  are,  while  others  which  are  of 
greater  importance  have  not  received  so  much 
emphasis. 

To  afford  an  outlet  for  physical  energy. — We  have 
already  agreed  that  the  use  of  activity  as  an  outlet 
for  the  overflowing  energy  of  Junior  boys  and  girls 
is  a  legitimate  use.  The  muscles  are  fairly  aching 
for  activity  and  the  mind  works  better  when  this 
longing  to  “do  something”  is  satisfied.  But  our 
time  in  the  church  school  is  so  limited  that  we 
need  to  see  that  whatever  manual  work  we  intro¬ 
duce  satisfies  some  further  need  at  the  same  time 
that  it  gives  the  Junior  a  chance  to  be  physically 
active.  In  a  limited  class  session  with  so  great  a 
task  before  us  as  the  development  of  Christian 
character,  we  have  no  time  for  mere  “busy  work,” 
as  handwork  has  sometimes  been  called. 

To  maintain  interest. — Here  again  we  have  a 
legitimate  reason  for  giving  the  Junior’s  hands 
something  to  do.  The  instinct  to  create  is  found 
in  all  of  us.  Boys  and  girls  love  to  feel  that  they 
are  “making”  things.  The  boys  and  girls  should 
have  that  joy  which  comes  from  the  feeling  that, 
out  of  their  own  desires  and  ideas,  they  have  made 
something  which  is,  in  a  peculiar  sense,  all  their 
own.  The  church-school  class  which  gives  such  an 

233 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


opportunity  to  its  Juniors  is  establishing  a  deep  and 
fundamental  interest  in  the  work  of  the  Junior 
Department  and  in  the  whole  church  enterprise. 

To  insure  study  of  the  lesson. — One  benefit  of 
manual  work  is  that  it  provides  something  definite 
to  do.  An  assignment  which  calls  for  some  hand¬ 
work  cannot  be  as  easily  avoided  as  some  other 
kinds  of  work.  Questions  on  or  reading  of  the 
lesson  story  may  seem  vague.  But  given  something 
to  do  with  his  hands — here  is  a  tangible  result 
which  the  Junior  can  see  and  bring  to  class.  Fur¬ 
thermore,  just  because  he  likes  to  “do”  and  to 
“make,”  his  interest  will  propel  him  to  and  through 
his  study  in  spite  of  competing  attractions. 

But  it  is  not  just  study  which  we  are  after.  We 
are  seeking  to  secure  fruitful  study ,  study  which 
gives  pleasure,  which  leads  on  to  further  study  and 
activity.  When  a  Junior,  in  his  study  either  at 
home  or  in  the  classroom,  has  made  something  of 
which  he  is  proud,  he  has  that  glow  of  achievement 
which  comes  with  success  in  any  undertaking.  He 
can  see  the  result  of  his  effort  and  so  he  feels  the 
value  of  it.  To  this  child  it  is  not  necessary  to 
offer  artificial  rewards  for  his  work  or  inducements 
to  work.  The  result  which  he  can  see  and  handle 
and  admire  is  reward  enough.  He  has  made  some¬ 
thing  worthy  of  his  effort  and  he  works  for  the 
love  of  the  work  itself. 

To  fix  ideas. — Ideas,  even  the  most  interesting 
ones,  are  elusive.  How  many  adults  try  unsuccess¬ 
fully  to  recall  some  piece  of  information  which  once 
could  be  found  at  their  tongue’s  end! 

We  are  familiar  with  the  old  saying,  “What  goes 
in  at  the  eye  must  come  out  at  the  muscles.”  This 

234 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  MANUAL  WORK 


is  particularly  true  of  the  child  under  nine  years  of 
age,  but  it  is  also  true  of  the  Junior.  The  more 
avenues  through  which  knowledge  can  be  pre¬ 
sented  to  the  child,  the  more  sure  is  he  to  retain 
that  knowledge.  The  Junior  who  makes  a  plastecine 
relief  map  of  Palestine  learns  the  geography  of  the 
Holy  Land  through  more  than  one  sense.  His 
knowledge  thus  gained  will  last  far  longer  than 
a  mere  study  of  a  map  made  by  some  one  else. 
The  fifth-grade  boys  who  made  an  African  village 
in  the  sand  table  when  they  were  studying  the 
“Livingstone  Hero  Stories”  have  an  indelible  im¬ 
pression  of  Livingstone’s  life  and  the  conditions 
in  Africa.1 

To  provide  life  situations. — One  of  the  most 
convincing  reasons  for  using  manual  work  in  the 
church  school  is  that  the  pupil,  instead  of  merely 
studying  about  life,  is  participating  in  life.  Some 
lessons  can  be  learned  only  when  we  actually  get 
“into  the  game”  of  life. 

When  a  group  of  Juniors  prepare  to  give  a  dram¬ 
atization  of  a  Bible  story,  and  when,  in  order  to  do 
this,  they  make  the  costumes  and  the  scenery,  and 
write  the  words  of  the  dramatization,  they  are  all 
working  together  in  a  cooperative  endeavor,  as  they 
will  have  to  do  when  they  take  part  in  the  pro¬ 
ductive  business  of  life  later  on.  When  there  is  to 
be  a  church  school  exhibit  of  the  work  of  the  year, 
and  each  Junior  class  helps  to  make  maps,  models, 
notebooks,  hymn  illustrations,  posters,  and  mission¬ 
ary  materials  for  it,  here  is  a  worthy  enterprise 
which  they  are  promoting  by  the  work  of  their 
hands.  They  see  their  handiwork  and  they  see 


1  See  frontispiece. 


235 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


that  it  is  good.  And  out  of  this  cooperative  endeavor 
has  grown  real  character  development. 

To  unify  the  various  aspects  of  development. — 
Character  is  made,  not  only  by  what  we  think  and 
desire,  but  especially  by  what  we  do.  The  work  of 
our  hands  helps  to  unify  all  methods  of  learning. 
To  do  a  piece  of  work  neatly,  beautifully,  accurately, 
and  to  have  it  done  on  time — this  is  to  make  for 
reliability  of  conduct  and  clearness  of  thinking. 
To  make  something  and  to  compare  its  fitness  and 
its  appearance  with  something  which  another  has 
made  is  to  develop  the  ability  to  judge  results.  To 
be  a  member  of  a  group  working  on  a  group  task 
is  to  learn  responsibility  and  the  desire  to  do  one’s 
best.  In  this,  and  in  countless  other  ways,  manual 
education  is  a  means  of  unifying  all  results.  It  is 
character  development. 

TYPES  OF  MANUAL  WORK 

Manual  work  might  be  classified  by  the  technical 
names  of  the  different  kinds  which  are  ordinarily 
employed  in  the  Junior  Department.  These  are 
such  processes  as  writing,  drawing,  modeling,  sew¬ 
ing,  construction,  illustration  and  color  work.  Most 
Junior  teachers  have,  at  some  time  or  other,  used 
one  or  more  of  these  types  of  handwork.  Perhaps 
it  will  help  us  to  see  our  problem  a  little  more  clearly, 
if  we  make  a  classification  according  to  what  the 
manual  activities  can  do  for  the  Junior. 

Such  a  grouping  of  manual  work  would  be  some¬ 
what  as  follows:  Imitative  work,  handwork  as 
review,  interpretative  work,  handwork  for  special 
uses,  creative  work,  and  cooperative  work.  In 
such  a  classification,  however,  it  must  be  remem- 

236 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  MANUAL  WORK 


berecl  that  any  one  kind  of  handwork,  such  as 
modeling,  for  instance,  might  belong  to  more  than 
one  of  these  classes.  That  is,  a  child  who  models 
an  Oriental  sheepfold  might  be  imitating  another 
model.  He  might  be  recalling  what  he  knew  of 
shepherd  life  in  Palestine.  Or  he  might  just  go 
ahead  and  in  his  arrangement  or  working  out  of 
detail  do  some  creative  work. 

Imitative  handwork. — Some  handwork  is  imitative 
in  whole  or  in  part.  There  is  value  for  the  Junior 
in  reproducing  by  imitation  models  of  Palestine 
life  or  life  in  a  mission  land,  or  a  map  in  sand  or 
plastecine.  To  do  this  merely  for  the  sake  of  imi¬ 
tating,  however,  will  not  appeal  to  the  Junior  as 
it  does  to  a  younger  child.  To  make  such  imitative 
handwork  really  interesting  to  the  Junior  some 
further  motive  will  probably  have  to  be  supplied. 
If  he  knows  that  his  work  will  be  used  for  some 
purpose,  then  he  has  an  added  reason  for  working. 

Handwork  as  review. — This  type  of  handwork  is 
used  very  largely.  It  means  any  manual  work 
which  helps  the  pupil  to  recall  what  he  has 
learned.  Much  of  the  writing  of  answers  to  ques¬ 
tions  in  the  pupil’s  notebook  is  of  this  kind.  Some¬ 
times  maps  made  from  memory  serve  as  a  means 
of  recall  and  fixing  ideas.  When  pupils  are  work¬ 
ing  with  their  hands,  it  is  valuable  to  plan  their 
work  so  that  it  does  suggest  to  them  as  many  asso¬ 
ciations  as  possible  with  past  material  which  they 
have  studied. 

A  group  of  sixth-grade  Junior  girls  were  planning 
to  use  some  of  the  left-over  church-school  materials 
in  scrapbooks  for  some  children  in  India.  They 
found  enough  pictures  to  illustrate  the  life  of  Jesus. 

237 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


This  could  be  done  with  little  thought.  It  was 
necessary  merely  to  paste  in  the  pictures  so  that 
they  would  look  well.  But  instead  of  that,  the 
making  of  these  scrapbooks  was  made  the  means 
of  a  new  approach  to  the  life  of  Jesus.  In  order 
to  select  and  arrange  the  pictures  so  that  they 
would  tell  the  stories  which  the  children  of  India 
might  enjoy  the  most,  the  stories  of  a  number  of 
the  pictures  had  to  be  retold  by  the  class.  Thus 
the  handwork  helped  to  recall  and  fix  the  chief 
events  in  the  life  of  Jesus. 

Interpretative  handwork. — Handwork  may  be  a 
means  of  letting  the  Junior  interpret  the  meaning 
of  a  story,  a  hymn,  a  picture,  or  a  prayer.  Juniors 
greatly  enjoy  work  of  this  kind,  and  it  is  well  worth 
trying  because  of  its  power  to  help  them  appreciate 
great  messages.  Some  of  the  great  church  hymns 
are  so  full  of  pictures  that  illustrations  can  be 
easily  found  to  interpret  their  meaning. 

“America  the  Beautiful”  is  one  continuous  pageant 
of  color  and  action.  The  Lord’s  Prayer  may  be 
saved  from  meaningless  repetition  and  given  a  new 
significance  by  illustrating  it  in  this  way.2 

Handwork  for  special  uses. — When  a  Junior 
makes  something  for  a  definite  purpose  he  has  a 
peculiar  sense  of  pleasure.  To  know  that  the  product 
of  his  hands  is  to  serve  a  necessary  and  useful  pur¬ 
pose  gives  wings  to  his  accomplishment.  Here  we 
get  into  the  realm  of  motives  which  appeal  strongly. 
To  sew  and  hammer  and  paint  in  order  that  our 
class  or  department  may  put  on  a  dramatization 
gives  zest  to  the  work.  To  make  an  attractive 

2  There  is  a  very  helpful  booklet  on  the  subject  of  hymn  interpretation 
through  art.  Twenty-five  Hymns  With  Art  Picture  Illustrations,  published  by  The 
Century  Company. 

238 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  MANUAL  WORK 


notebook  or  map  or  model,  that  it  may  be  on  exhibit 
and  show  what  the  work  of  the  church  school  is, 
appeals  to  the  Junior  as  something  worth  while. 
Indeed,  the  more  often  handwork  can  be  the  out¬ 
come  of  real  motives,  the  greater  will  be  its  edu¬ 
cational  possibilities. 

When  the  need  to  be  met  does  not  concern  our 
own  welfare  primarily,  but  is  a  need  in  the  life  of 
some  one  else  who  is  dependent  upon  us  for  the 
service,  then  the  making  of  things  to  help  the  other 
person  becomes  infinitely  worth  while.  Sometimes 
the  teacher  complains  that  there  is  so  “little  time” 
for  service  work  in  these  days  when  boys  and  girls 
are  so  busy.  Perhaps  the  answer  to  that  question 
is  in  curtailing  some  of  the  handwork  which  the 
Junior  does  not  recognize  as  worthy  of  his  effort 
and  in  placing  in  its  stead  manual  work  which  is 
designed  to  serve  others. 

Creative  handwork. — In  almost  any  kind  of  hand¬ 
work,  unless  the  teacher  insists  on  absolute  uni¬ 
formity,  there  is  a  chance  for  the  individual  pupil 
to  put  in  touches  of  his  own  individuality.  But 
it  is  possible  to  plan  some  opportunity  for  Juniors 
to  do  really  creative  work,  with  very  few  sugges¬ 
tions  or  limitations  from  the  teacher. 

One  class  of  sixth-grade  girls  who  had  been  study¬ 
ing  the  life  of  Jesus  were  allowed  to  paint  pictures 
of  some  incident  in  his  life.  They  were  to  be  included 
in  the  annual  church-school  exhibit.  The  results 
were  really  quite  remarkable.  They  were,  of  course, 
crude,  as  the  drawing  and  painting  of  human  figures 
was  somewhat  beyond  the  technique  of  most  of  them. 
And  they  were  partly  imitative,  as  the  girls  evi¬ 
dently  drew  upon  their  study  of  the  works  of  great 

239 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


artists  for  suggestions.  But  they  showed  a  real 
feeling  for  the  meaning  of  the  incidents  painted. 
There  was  action  in  all  of  them,  not  unlike  the 
earliest  attempts  of  men  to  express  their  feelings 
upon  canvas. 

One  Junior  Department  worked  out  for  exhibit 
purposes  and  also  for  permanent  use  in  the  mis¬ 
sionary  museum  a  series  of  missionary  posters. 
Each  Junior  was  asked  to  make  an  attractive  poster 
illustrating  the  mission-study  book  which  his 
class  had  completed.  One  Junior  Department  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  upon  the  tables  in  its 
classrooms  very  artistic  reed  baskets  to  hold  the 
supplies,  baskets  which  the  children  had  woven 
themselves  under  the  supervision  of  a  basket-maker. 
The  class  of  girls  who  designed  and  made  a  Junior 
banner  for  the  honor  class  always  had  a  special 
sense  of  pleasure  in  the  sight  of  that  banner  because 
it  was  their  own  creation. 

Cooperative  handwork. — It  should  be  the  effort 
of  every  Junior  Department  to  provide  increasing 
opportunities  for  its  Juniors  to  work  on  cooperative 
manual  work.  That  is  one  reason  why  working  for 
a  dramatization  is  so  vital.  All  can  contribute 
to  its  success.  Work  in  the  sand  table  is  another 
type  of  cooperative  endeavor.  The  class  book,  in 
addition  to  or  in  the  place  of,  the  individual  pupil’s 
notebook,  gives  a  chance  for  all  to  plan  its  con¬ 
tents,  to  do  the  actual  work  upon  it,  and  to  share 
in  the  creation  of  a  real  class  product. 

Occasionally,  instead  of  each  pupil  illustrating  a 
hymn  it  might  be  well  to  purchase  larger  and  better 
pictures  and  to  make  a  truly  beautiful,  good-sized, 
well-bound  book  to  be  placed  permanently  on  the 

240 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  MANUAL  WORK 


bookshelf  in  the  Junior  room  for  all  to  read.  In¬ 
deed,  a  number  of  books  of  different  kinds  can  be 
made  in  this  way — hymn  illustrations,  books  illus¬ 
trating  life  in  different  countries,  illustrated  lives 
of  great  missionaries,  picture  books  of  the  life  of 
Jesus  or  of  Old-Testament  heroes.  Thus  a  Junior 
Department  could  secure  quite  a  collection  of  art 
pictures  of  good  size  to  be  used  by  classes  studying 
different  subjects. 

MOTIVES  FOR  MANUAL  WORK 

We  have  seen  that  suitable  handwork  through 
which  worthy  motives  find  expression,  has  educa¬ 
tional  value  and  may  contribute  to  the  child’s 
religious  training.  What  are  some  of  these  motives? 

The  competitive  motive. — If  we  were  to  rate 
motives  in  the  order  of  their  real  worth,  the  appeal 
to  the  competitive  instinct  would  probably  not 
stand  very  high  in  the  scale.  We  cannot  neglect 
its  appeal  altogether,  for  Juniors  are  at  the  age 
when  they  love  to  compete;  but  we  can  try,  so  far 
as  the  work  in  the  church  school  is  concerned,  to 
suggest  that  the  Junior  compete  with  himself  and 
his  own  best  previous  records  or  that  groups  com¬ 
pete  with  each  other  for  the  sake  of  a  better  Junior 
Department.  The  appeal  should  not  be  made 
only  to  personal  advancement. 

Shall  rewards  be  given  for  good  handwork?  This 
is  a  question  which  Junior  teachers  frequently  ask. 
The  whole  question  of  rewards  is  a  complicated 
one.  So  often  it  is  hard  to  be  entirely  fair  in  the 
granting  of  rewards  or  to  have  the  decisions  seem 
fair  to  the  Junior.  There  must  be  certain  stand¬ 
ards  of  merit  which  are  perfectly  clear  to  all  and 

241 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


The  correlated  period  can  often  be  used  for  this. 
Sometimes  the  teaching  of  the  entire  lesson  can 
be  organized  around  the  handwork,  such  as  working 
on  maps  or  illustrating  a  book.  There  are  certain 
types  of  handwork  which  can  better  be  done  on  a 
week  day.  Some  Junior  Departments  find  it  quite 
possible  to  get  their  Juniors  together  on  one  after¬ 
noon  each  week  after  school.  When  this  is  done 
the  Juniors  will  probably  respond  better  to  some 
active  phases  of  the  work  as  a  contrast  to  the  more 
formal  school  room  from  which  they  have  come. 
This  makes  a  chance  to  introduce  handwork. 

Where  entire  departments  do  not  meet  on  a  week 
day,  often  separate  classes  can  meet  with  their 
teachers  for  expression  through  the  hand.  The 
Junior  Department  which  has  a  two-period  session 
or  whose  church  school  runs  for  the  entire  Sunday 
morning  can  easily  provide  a  full  period  for  expres- 
sional  work.  At  any  rate,  there  ought  to  be  a 
few  occasions  when  there  are  work-parties  for  the 
whole  department,  each  group  helping  in  some 
enterprise  which  concerns  them  all. 

For  Further  Reading : 

Hutton — Things  to  Make. 

Baldwin — The  Junior  Worker  and  Work ,  Chap¬ 
ter  XV. 

Wardle — The  Use  of  Handwork  in  Religious 
Education. 

Faris — The  Sand  Table. 

Miller — The  Dramatization  of  Bible  Stories ,  Chap¬ 
ter  XIII,  “Stage  Setting  and  Properties,”  and 
Chapter  XIV,  “Costuming.” 


244 


CHAPTER  XVI 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  DRAMATIZATION 

There  is  one  native  tendency  which  teachers  of 
children  may  always  count  upon,  and  that  is  the 
tendency  to  “play.”  When  the  play  interest  is 
appealed  to  in  teaching  religious  truth,  the  child’s 
whole  personality  is  thrown  into  the  learning  of  the 
lesson. 

That  the  drama  may  be  used  legitimately  in  and 
by  the  church  requires  little  argument.  Its  use 
is  every  year  becoming  more  widespread.  But  its 
use  as  a  method  in  the  religious  education  of  children 
needs  to  be  safeguarded  by  a  knowledge  of  just 
how  it  may  be  made  to  accomplish  the  aims  of 
religious  education.  To  allow  children  to  dram¬ 
atize  merely  for  the  sake  of  putting  on  a  play  to 
earn  money,  or  to  show  off  the  dramatic  prowess 
of  individual  boys  and  girls,  is  to  waste  time  val¬ 
uable  for  other  purposes.  It  may  produce  unde¬ 
sirable  results  in  character.  But  to  use  dramatiza¬ 
tion  legitimately,  as  a  means  by  which  the  child 
enters  into  the  great  religious  experiences  through 
which  others  have  passed  is  to  bring  about  perma¬ 
nent  and  desirable  changes  in  the  child’s  personality. 

DRAMATIZATION  A  METHOD  OF  LEARNING  RELIGION 

The  dramatic  method  will  accomplish  results 
which  correspond  to  the  three  aims  of  religious 
education  as  given  by  Dr.  Betts:  Dramatization 

245 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


provides  a  way  for  the  child  to  secure  “fruitful 
knowledge.”  It  tends  to  develop  “right  attitudes”; 
and  it  helps  the  child  to  acquire  real  “skill  in  living.” 

Dramatization  provides  fruitful  knowledge. — We 
have  only  to  recall  some  of  our  own  experiences 
with  the  reading  and  acting  of  plays  to  see  how 
one’s  knowledge  of  the  subject  becomes  richer  and 
more  meaningful  when  one  has  actually  taken 
some  part.  When  actually  participating,  we  need 
to  ask  ourselves  about  every  line  and  every  situa¬ 
tion,  “Just  what  does  this  mean?  How  did  this 
character  feel  at  this  point?  What  is  the  author 
trying  to  bring  out?  How  can  I  best  interpret  it?” 
At  last  we  have  completely  identified  ourselves 
with  the  characters;  they  do  not  live  apart  from  us, 
for  we  are  they  and  their  experiences  are  ours. 

The  child  who  participates  in  a  dramatization 
assimilates  the  content  of  the  play  in  just  such  a 
way.  In  order  to  take  his  part  understanding^ 
he  must  study  the  situation  out  of  which  the  play 
grew,  the  historical  background,  the  ways  in  which 
people  lived  and  thought  at  the  time  when  the 
action  of  the  play  took  place,  and  he  must  feel  the 
message  of  the  play.  Knowledge  thus  acquired 
becomes  an  inherent  part  of  the  child’s  mental  and 
spiritual  equipment. 

Dramatization  develops  right  attitudes. — In  dram¬ 
atization  the  feelings  aroused  are  given  an  immediate 
opportunity  for  expression.  The  Junior  living  out 
the  life  of  another  person  in  a  drama  carries  his 
newly  aroused  emotions  and  desires  over  into  action 
— the  action  of  the  play.  Because  he  thus  expresses 
them  they  tend  to  become  his  own.  To  hear  about 
the  generosity  of  David  in  sparing  Saul’s  life  is 

246 


DAVID  AND  SAUL 


By  permission  of  the  Rev.  Wilfred  Rowell  and  Miss  Bertha  Hoover,  Union  Church  of  Hinsdale.  Illinois. 

DRAMATIZING  “THE  BABY  MOSES” 


j  I  I  I  I 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  DRAMATIZATION 


one  thing;  to  be  that  David  is  to  assume  the  generous 
attitude.  Thus  feelings  become  definitely  organized 
around  moral  centers. 

Miss  Miller1  points  out  that  in  dramatizing 
Bible  stories  children  enter  into  the  life  experiences 
of  a  highly  religious  people.  If  we  are  seeking  to 
get  the  child  to  live  all  his  life  in  a  religious  spirit, 
how  can  we  better  do  it  than  by  letting  him  really 
share  the  life  experiences  of  a  people  who  lived 
with  this  God-consciousness  vivid  and  ever  present? 

Dramatization  increases  ability  in  Christian  living. 
— The  child  in  a  dramatization  is  meeting  and  solv¬ 
ing  the  life  problems  of  other  people.  It  naturally 
follows  that  as  he  meets  and  solves  those  problems 
he  is  forming  his  own  standards  and  technique 
of  conduct.  This  means  an  increased  skill  in  meet¬ 
ing  situations.  If  the  method  used  in  dramatization 
is  the  right  one,  real  social  living  results.  The 
children  learn  to  work  with  others  as  all  together 
express  a  great  idea.  They  learn  their  places  within 
the  group.  They  learn  to  feel  as  they  ought  to 
in  a  given  situation.  Also,  if  the  children  criticize 
the  results  of  their  own  acting,  learn  to  form  judg¬ 
ments,  and  to  make  suggestions  of  ways  in  which 
to  improve  their  united  endeavor,  their  thinking 
is  concrete  and  practical. 

METHODS  OF  PROCEDURE  IN  DRAMATIZATION 

It  is  quite  possible  to  use  the  dramatic  method 
and  not  achieve  any  of  these  desirable  results. 
Children  may  be  thinking  just  of  themselves  and  of 
the  effect  they  are  producing  instead  of  the  living 
message  of  the  play.  Results  depend  upon  the 


»  Miller,  Dramatiiation  of  Bible  Stories,  Chapter  I.  University  of  Chicago  Press. 

247 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


method  employed.  There  are  three  possible  methods 
of  procedure. 

Playing  the  story. — In  the  Primary  Department 
children  like  to  “play  the  story.”  This  means  that 
they  are  satisfied  with  very  simple  presentations 
of  the  stories  they  like.  But  to  the  Junior,  dram¬ 
atization  means  something  more  pretentious.  Men¬ 
tion  “acting  the  story”  and  his  mind  flies  to  a 
stage  and  scenery  and  costumes.  It  is  to  be  an 
event.  While  we  never  want  to  devote  too  much 
attention  to  stage  accessories  in  dramatic  work  with 
children,  a  certain  amount  of  these  is  permissible 
to  create  the  necessary  atmosphere  and  illusion. 
Juniors  are  capable  of  going  more  deeply  into 
a  dramatization  than  are  younger  children.  They 
are  capable  of  discovering  laws  that  apply  to  life 
in  general. 

Occasionally,  there  is  a  chance  in  the  class  of 
Juniors  to  use  the  dramatic  method  very  simply. 
We  are  studying  about  the  prophet  Amos  and  we 
have  been  working  on  the  social  situation  which 
prompted  his  message.  Many  a  group  of  Juniors 
will  respond  to  the  suggestion  that  half  of  us  repre¬ 
sent  the  poor  people  and  half  the  rich  and  priestly 
class,  while  one  is  Amos  and  stands  at  the  temple 
door  thundering  out  his  message.  Let  each  one 
take  a  turn  and  see  who  can  read  his  words  most 
effectively  so  that  we  get  the  meaning.  There  are 
some  groups  of  Junior  boys  who  might  not  respond 
to  any  such  impromptu  use  of  the  dramatic  method, 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  there  have  been  cases  where 
the  most  enthusiastic  group  in  the  Junior  Depart¬ 
ment  has  been  the  older  Junior  boys. 

Learning  to  dramatize  a  story. — We  shall  see 

248 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  DRAMATIZATION 


presently,  how  children  can  learn  to  take  a  story 
and  work  out  their  own  dramatization  of  it,  writing 
the  parts  themselves  instead  of  taking  a  play  which 
some  one  else  has  prepared.  This  type  of  dram¬ 
atization  secures  some  results  from  the  children 
which  can  be  secured  in  no  other  way.  There  are 
those  who  maintain  that  this  is  the  only  way  in 
which  children  ought  to  take  up  dramatization, 
claiming  that  only  thus  are  we  making  dramatiza¬ 
tion  truly  educational.  The  writer  believes  most 
heartily  in  this  method  as  one  toward  which  to 
work.  But,  the  fact  remains  that  to  assist  children 
in  writing  their  own  dramatization  requires  some 
experience  in  the  use  of  the  dramatic  method.  It 
is  not  always  easy  for  a  teacher  to  start  her  work 
in  dramatization  in  this  way. 

A  story  to  be  dramatized  follows  the  same  general 
outline  as  the  story  to  be  told.  First,  a  beginning 
which  presents  the  situation  and  lets  one  imme¬ 
diately  into  the  action.  Second,  comes  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  plot.  Then  the  climax,  when  the  threads 
are  unraveled,  and  finally  the  end. 

The  first  thing  for  the  teacher  to  do  is  to  select 
a  story  that  is  suitable  for  acting2  and  then  pre¬ 
pare  it  so  that  it  can  be  told  to  her  group.  In  telling 
a  story  to  be  dramatized  the  teacher  will  bring 
out  the  scenes  which  are  most  important  for  the 
action  of  the  play.  If  she  intends  to  use  a  dram¬ 
atization  which  some  one  else  has  worked  out, 
her  story  will  follow  the  outline  as  followed  in 
the  play. 

When  the  story  has  been  told,  the  children  are 
asked  to  select  the  most  important  pictures  or 

a  See  section  on  “Selecting  Dramatic  Material,”  pp.  253-254* 

249 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


scenes  as  they  remember  them.  These  can  be 
listed  on  the  blackboard.  It  is  possible  that  they 
may  have  too  many  scenes.  Then,  by  discussion, 
they  can  decide  which  ones  to  omit  as  unnecessary 
for  the  action.  In  telling  the  story,  the  leader 
must  use  as  nearly  as  possible  the  language  which 
is  used  in  the  play,  if  a  printed  play  is  to  be  fol¬ 
lowed. 

After  deciding  upon  the  scenes,  let  the  children 
volunteer  to  take  different  parts  and  let  them 
act  out  each  scene,  one  by  one,  as  they  think  it 
should  be  done.  After  each  scene  there  should 
be  a  chance  for  free  criticism  of  the  parts  and  for 
suggestions  as  to  how  to  improve  them.  Then 
the  scenes  can  be  repeated  in  the  light  of  the  crit¬ 
icism.  After  they  have  thus  been  worked  on,  place 
the  printed  play  in  the  hands  of  the  children. 

Now  let  them  study  the  play  as  they  would  study 
any  lesson,  trying  to  get  the  meaning  of  each  situa¬ 
tion  and  each  speech.  Let  different  children  read 
different  parts  each  time.  Let  them  act  the  scenes 
again  in  the  light  of  the  study  of  the  play,  never 
insisting  that  they  shall  be  letter  perfect  in  the 
saying  of  the  parts,  so  long  as  the  meaning  is  clear. 
Let  the  children  act  out  the  play  at  a  number  of 
group  meetings,  seeing  that  every  child  has  the 
opportunity  to  impersonate  several  characters.  Each 
child  will  become  perfectly  familiar  with  the  whole 
play  and  can  easily  take  any  one  of  a  number  of 
parts  in  it. 

“Will  the  children  not  get  tired  of  acting  it  so 
many  times?”  some  one  may  ask.  They  will  not 
get  any  more  tired  than  they  do  at  the  rehearsal 
where  they  have  tried  to  memorize  lines  and  are 

250 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  DRAMATIZATION 


put  through  their  parts  over  and  over  again  until 
they  are  letter  perfect.  Variety  is  constantly 
introduced,  because  the  children  are  encouraged  to 
criticize  their  own  action  and  interpretation  each 
time  they  go  through  the  play,  with  the  idea  of 
perfecting  it.  They  keep  making  suggestions  of 
better  ways  of  doing  and  saying  things.  Thus 
monotony  is  avoided.  Indeed,  they  should  never 
feel  that  the  play  is  so  finished  that  it  cannot  be 
changed  for  the  sake  of  better  interpretation.  When 
it  is  ready  to  be  given  before  other  classes  or  for 
fathers  and  mothers,  let  the  children  make  sug¬ 
gestions  as  to  who  shall  take  the  parts,  helping 
them  to  make  well-founded  judgments. 

There  are  ways  of  safeguarding  the  children 
from  self-consciousness  and  vainglory,  one  of  the 
Junior’s  temptations.  By  the  method  we  have 
described  the  thoughts  of  the  children,  through 
all  the  days  of  preparation,  have  been  kept  upon 
the  meaning  of  the  play  and  the  best  ways  of  bring¬ 
ing  out  that  meaning.  When  they  are  ready  to 
give  it  for  others  they  should  realize  that  they  are 
telling  a  story  in  action  to  others  who  do  not  know 
it  as  they  do,  so  they  must  think,  every  moment, 
of  the  best  ways  in  which  to  act  their  story. 

The  stage-setting  should  be  exceedingly  simple, 
so  that  the  thoughts  of  actors  and  audience  are 
upon  the  play  and  not  upon  the  background.  The 
children  participating  should  be  in  their  costumes 
and  seated  in  seats  at  the  front  but  with  the  other 
children.  The  adult  leader  should  say  just  a  word 
about  the  story  and,  if  adults  are  present,  a  little 
about  the  spirit  in  which  the  children  are  giving  it. 
Then  each  character  in  the  play  should  stand  while 

251 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


the  leader  tells  who  he  is  and  explains,  if  that  is 
necessary,  why  he  wears  the  particular  kind  of 
costume  which  he  has  on.  This  is  often  necessary 
in  the  giving  of  Bible  plays.  By  these  simple  intro¬ 
ductions,  which  tend  to  make  players  and  audience 
one,  the  children  who  are  taking  part  have  their 
self-consciousness  removed.  They  feel  that  they 
are  just  a  part  of  a  perfectly  natural  proceeding. 

Writing  the  dramatization. — The  third  possible 
method  of  procedure  is  that  in  which  the  children 
write  their  own  dramatization.  In  simple  stories 
it  may  not  be  necessary  to  write  out  the  conversa¬ 
tion  at  all.  It  makes  little  difference  if  it  varies 
slightly  each  time  the  story  is  acted.  In  longer 
dramatizations  it  is  necessary  to  master  the  word¬ 
ing  carefully.  Sometimes  this  is  done  by  all  working 
on  it  together.  When  all  have  worked  on  it,  it  is 
possible  for  some  of  the  older  children  to  take 
these  suggestions  and  apply  them  in  detail.  In 
this  method,  after  the  children  have  listened  to  the 
story  as  told  by  the  adult  leader,  and  have  made 
out  their  own  outline  of  the  different  scenes  and 
have  acted  them  out  a  number  of  times,  then  they 
are  ready  to  sit  down  and  write  it  out,  instead  of 
studying  an  already  written  play  as  the  children 
do  under  the  second  method.3 

When  children  write  their  own  dramatization 
there  is  a  greater  chance  for  initiative  and  free 
expression  of  the  creative  instinct.  The  product 
is  more  nearly  their  own,  and  they  feel  it  more 
deeply. 

Whether  one  uses  the  second  or  third  method, 

'  For  an  “Outline  of  procedure  in  developing  Biblical  drama,’’  see,  Miller, 
Dramatization  of  Bible  Stories,  pp.  15  and  16.  University  of  Chicago  Press. 

252 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  DRAMATIZATION 


it  is  possible  to  relate  a  number  of  other  activities 
to  the  dramatization  of  the  story.  The  children 
can  study  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  people 
in  the  play  and  themselves  can  make  such  simple 
stage  accessories  as  they  will  need,  like  water  jugs, 
wells,  shields,  etc.  They  can  also  design  and  make 
their  own  costumes  out  of  simple  materials.  This 
is  particularly  easy  in  the  case  of  almost  any  Oriental 
costume.  If  the  scene  is  in  Egypt,  they  can  study 
Egyptian  design  and  make  borders  appropriate  for 
walls  or  costumes.  One  thoroughly  worked  out 
dramatization  may  become  a  class-project  to  cover 
a  number  of  weeks,  and  it  may  end,  especially  if 
it  is  a  missionary  dramatization,  in  some  definite 
service  to  the  people  of  the  country  in  which  the 
story  has  its  setting. 

SELECTING  DRAMATIC  MATERIAL 

Since  our  time  for  religious  education  is  so  limited, 
great  care  should  be  exercised  in  the  selection  of 
material  to  be  dramatized.  Unworthy  stories  should 
not  be  used.  We  want  only  the  stories  which,  when 
reproduced  by  the  children,  will  have  power  to 
enrich  their  lives. 

Since  we  want  to  improve  the  daily  living  of 
Junior  children,  we  should  choose  for  dramatization 
stories  which  have  really  great  messages.  Many  Bible 
and  missionary  stories  come  under  this  classification. 
Here  are  people  who  lived  greatly  and  earnestly.  To 
enter  into  their  lives  is  an  uplifting  experience. 

Since  the  Junior’s  attitudes  will  be  affected  by 
those  dramatizations  in  which  he  takes  part,  we 
must  be  sure  that  only  ethical  actions  are  starred. 
For  this  reason,  Miss  Miller  suggests  that  the  Jacob 

253 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


story  be  passed  by,  as  Jacob  practiced  deception 
and  yet  got  all  the  things  he  wanted. 

As  some  stories  are  more  dramatic  than  others, 
we  should  base  our  selections  on  the  possibilities 
of  dramatic  action  in  the  story. 

REQUIREMENTS  FOR  THE  LEADER 

What  does  a  leader  need  in  order  to  use  the 
dramatic  method  successfully  with  Juniors?  She 
needs  some  technical  knowledge,  but  the  truth 
must  not  be  lost  sight  of  that  the  person  who  knows 
most  about  the  technique  of  the  drama  is  not 
always  the  one  who  can  help  children  successfully 
to  dramatize. 

Some  knowledge  of  dramatic  effect. — By  this  is 
meant  some  ability  to  see  a  story  in  its  dramatic 
possibilities  and  its  dramatic  setting.  This  implies 
a  little  study  of  the  structure  of  stories,  so  that 
the  leader  can  pick  out  just  those  scenes  which 
are  necessary  to  the  action  of  the  play.  By  dramatic 
effect  we  also  mean  the  manner  in  which  children 
shall  say  and  do  certain  things  to  produce  certain 
effects.  This  does  not  mean  posing  children  or 
getting  them  to  imitate  adult  ways  of  expressing 
their  feelings.  They  should  be  led  to  be  natural 
in  their  parts,  choosing  their  own  actions  and  ges¬ 
tures  as  far  as  possible,  but  the  adult  leader  ought 
to  know  when  these  are  true  to  the  ideas  which 
need  to  be  brought  out  so  that  she  can  help  the 
children  to  express  themselves  with  best  effect. 

Ability  to  present  the  story  vividly. — The  extent 
to  which  the  Juniors  will  throw  themselves  into 
the  acting  of  the  play,  and,  indeed,  their  attitude 
toward  it,  depends  largely  upon  the  vividness  with 

254 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  DRAMATIZATION 


which  the  story  is  told  to  them  the  first  time.  It 
must  grip  them  as  they  hear  it  if  they  are  to  make 
others  feel  its  power  when  they  act  it.  If  they  are 
not  interested  at  this  first  telling,  it  will  be  difficult 
to  create  interest  later  on  and  the  matter  of  disci¬ 
pline  may  present  problems. 

Ability  to  help  children  express  their  feelings. — 
The  leader  should  have  that  sympathetic  attitude 
which  makes  children  forget  themselves  in  their 
attempt  to  feel  as  others  do.  As  the  play  progresses, 
she  must  be  able  to  help  them  to  get  the  point  of 
view  of  other  persons.  The  leader’s  own  wealth 
of  feeling,  at  every  stage,  must  call  out  feeling 
from  the  boys  and  girls.  In  a  variety  of  ways  she 
must  be  able  to  help  Mary  or  John  see  the  story 
scene  so  clearly  that  he  actually  feels  that  he  is 
back  there  in  Palestine,  among  the  hills,  meeting 
Goliath  single-handed  or  being  sold  to  traders  by 
jealous  brothers. 

Willingness  to  help  children  to  be  original. — 

Few  dramatizations  will  suffer  from  the  original 
interpretations  of  the  children,  especially  if  the 
members  of  their  own  group  are  the  critics,  for 
children  almost  instinctively  have  the  right  ideas 
if  they  have  been  given  sufficient  information  about 
the  play.  So  long  as  a  child’s  original  idea  of  the 
way  to  speak  or  act  seems  to  bring  out  the  mean¬ 
ing  he  is  an  artist  and  his  contributions  should  be 
honored.  Sometimes  it  is  necessary  to  let  children 
initiate  a  number  of  ideas  which  they  will  after¬ 
ward  reject  when  they  discuss  their  own  suggestions. 
This  takes  more  time,  but  the  children  enter  into 
the  action  more  completely  if  they  are  having  a 
hand  in  the  making  of  it. 

255 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Patience  and  time  required. — To  work  up  a 
dramatization  by  any  method  which  has  the  educa¬ 
tion  of  the  child  in  mind  requires  time.  There  are 
no  short-cuts.  And  not  only  is  time  necessary 
but  patience,  also,  on  the  part  of  the  leader.  Chil¬ 
dren  differ  in  their  powers  of  expressing  feeling. 
When  will  this  boy  who  likes  to  occupy  the  center 
of  the  stage  learn  that  others  should  have  the  same 
chance  as  he  and  that  several  of  the  group  can  do 
quite  as  well  as  he?  When  will  this  timid  child, 
who  has  never  been  able  to  overcome  her  terrible 
shyness,  come  to  feel  this  story  so  that  she  will  be 
natural?  How  shall  this  boy  who  behaves  only 
when  he  is  doing  something  important  learn  to  be 
interested  in  the  efforts  of  others?  It  requires  some 
skill  to  make  all  who  are  not  acting  at  the  moment 
feel  that  their  minds  are  actively  at  work  on  the 
play  while  others  are  participating.  For  this  reason 
plays  or  individual  speaking  parts  should  not  be 
too  long.  Those  who  are  listening  do  so  in  order 
that  they  may  make  improvement  in  interpretation, 
because  they  know  that  soon  it  will  be  their  turn 
to  take  those  same  parts. 

For  the  sake  of  those  who  want  further  help  with 
the  method  of  dramatization  with  children  and  who 
want  to  know  where  to  find  good  dramatizations 
to  use,  the  following  lists  are  appended. 

BIBLE  PLAYS 

Rita  Benton — Bible  Plays.  The  Abingdon  Press. 

Rita  Benton — Shorter  Bible  Plays.  The  Abingdon 
Press. 

May  Stein  Soble — Bible  Plays  for  Children. 

Cole — The  Good  Samaritan  and  Other  Plays. 

256 


EDUCATION  THROUGH  DRAMATIZATION 


Miller — The  Dramatization  of  Bible  Stories.  Uni¬ 
versity  of  Chicago  Press. 

MISSIONARY  DRAMATIZATIONS  FOR  JUNIORS 

Ferris — Livingstone  Hero  Plays.  Missionary  Edu¬ 
cation  Movement. 

Prentiss — Just  Plain  Peter.  Missionary  Educa¬ 
tion  Movement. 

Stowell — Making  Missions  Real.  The  Methodist 
Book  Concern. 

Ferris — Alice's  House  Warming.  Missionary  Edu¬ 
cation  Movement. 

CHRISTMAS  PLAYS 

Ferris — Children  of  the  Christmas  Spirit.  Mis¬ 
sionary  Education  Movement. 

McFadden — Why  the  Chimes  Rang.  Samuel 
French  Company. 

SOURCES  FOR  CHILDREN’S  PLAYS 

Missionary  Education  Movement,  150  Fifth  Ave¬ 
nue,  New  York. 

Religious  Drama  Department  of  the  Drama 
League,  59  East  Van  Buren  Street,  Chicago, 
Illinois. 

Denominational  Mission  Boards. 

Catalogue  of  the  Department  of  Missionary 
Education,  Board  of  Sunday  Schools  of  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church,  58  East  Washington  Street, 
Chicago,  Illinois. 

For  Further  Reading : 

Miller — The  Dramatization  of  Bible  Stories. 

MacKaye — How  to  Produce  Children's  Plays . 

257 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Willcox — Mission  Study  Through  Educational  Dra¬ 
matics. 

Heniger — The  Kingdom  of  the  Child. 

Fry — Educational  Dramatics. 

Miller — Dramatization  in  the  Church  School. 


t 


258 


CHAPTER  XVII 


TRAINING  IN  SERVICE 

Replies  from  representative  groups  of  teachers 
in  different  localities  indicate  that  in  only  a  rela¬ 
tively  few  churches  does  there  exist  a  well-worked- 
out  curriculum  of  graded  service  for  the  Juniors 
or  for  all  ages  in  the  church  school.  Such  a  cur¬ 
riculum  is  most  effective  if  it  is  introduced  in  the 
Beginners’  Department  and  is  developed  in  every 
succeeding  department  in  the  school.  But  where 
there  is  no  such  program  of  service  for  the  whole 
school  it  is  quite  possible  for  a  Junior  Department 
to  develop  its  own. 

THE  PURPOSE  OF  TRAINING  IN  SERVICE 

Why  should  we  train  our  boys  and  girls  to  serve? 
The  most  conclusive  answer  to  this  question  is  that 
their  great  Leader  said,  “I  am  among  you  as  one 
who  serves.”  His  plan  was  to  take  his  followers 
into  a  partnership  with  himself — a  loving  partner¬ 
ship  of  service  to  their  fellow  men.  It  was  not  by 
his  teachings  only  that  he  sought  to  train  leaders, 
but  by  suggesting  to  them  the  immediate  and  active 
application  of  his  teachings  in  daily  living.  The 
rich  young  ruler,  Zacchaeus,  the  twelve,  all  were 
assigned  work  to  be  done.  Why  should  not  our 
program  for  the  training  of  youthful  leaders  be 
equally  far-seeing  and  effective?  There  are  at 
least  three  purposes  of  this  training. 

To  help  those  in  need. — The  actual  amount  of 

259 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


help  which  any  group  of  Juniors  can  give  to  a  needy 
world  is  almost  infinitesimal  in  comparison  with 
the  world’s  appalling  want.  However,  one  purpose 
of  a  program  of  service  in  a  Junior  Department  is 
to  relieve  a  small  share  of  the  world’s  needs.  No 
programs  of  equality  of  property,  of  rights,  or  of 
opportunities,  will  ever  remove  the  necessity  for 
mutual  helpfulness.  Since  this  is  so,  boys  and 
girls  should  early  learn  to  live  in  a  world  which 
must  depend,  for  its  happiness,  upon  the  loving 
active  service  of  the  people  who  live  in  it. 

To  develop  the  individual  Junior. — While  any 
program  of  service  in  a  Junior  Department  may 
not  be  very  important  as  far  as  the  actual  amount 
of  help  rendered  is  concerned,  it  is  of  vital  im¬ 
portance  in  developing  a  generation  of  Christians 
whose  lives  will  have  the  essential  quality  of  Jesus’ 
life — that  of  service.  The  program  of  graded  service 
has  as  its  objective,  not  what  we  can  get  out  of  our 
Juniors,  but  what  we  can  give  to  them.  Our  aim  is 
not  one  hundred  dollars  for  the  Foreign  Mission 
Board,  or  Thanksgiving  dinners  for  the  Sobrinsky’s 
and  O’Mallon’s,  or  Christmas  gifts  for  the  Children’s 
Hospital.  It  is,  rather,  the  development  of  serving 
Christians — those  who  shall  know  how  to  live  in  a 
world  where  the  service  motive  must  rule. 

To  socialize  the  Junior  group. — The  ultimate 
aim  of  every  program  of  service  is  not  just  the 
development  of  individual  Christians  as  so  many 
independent  units  in  a  world-society,  but  also  to 
develop  the  “social  consciousness” — the  feeling  that 
“all  are  one  upon  the  human  wheel.”1  From  their 
training  as  Christian  citizens  and  as  church  work- 


1  Edwin  Markham,  Shoes  of  Happiness. 

260 


TRAINING  IN  SERVICE 


ers,  boys  and  girls  should  acquire  the  ability  to 
think  together,  to  work  together,  to  live  together. 

In  a  certain  Christian  home  it  is  the  custom, 
every  evening  after  dinner,  while  the  family  is 
still  around  the  table,  to  have  family  prayers. 
There  are  four  boys  in  that  home  ranging  from  one 
of  high-school  age  down  to  a  little  fellow  in  first 
grade.  Events  of  the  day  are  talked  over,  family 
and  school  events,  church  affairs,  world  problems. 
After  informal  talk  each  member  of  the  family — 
father  and  mother,  and  every  boy — offers  a  prayer. 
It  has  been  interesting  to  see  how  the  prayers  of 
these  boys  have  grown  in  their  scope  from  peti¬ 
tions  for  purely  personal  blessings  to  a  real  interest 
in  great  questions  and  in  people  of  every  race  and 
color.  Not  long  ago  the  youngest,  in  his  turn, 
offered  the  following  prayer: 

“O  God,  you  help  us  and  we’ll  help  you,  and  you 
and  we  will  help  everybody,  and  everybody  will 
help  everybody  else.  Amen.” 

It  should  be  the  aim  of  every  program  of  training 
in  service  to  develop  boys  and  girls  who  have  the 
spirit  of  this  prayer — the  spirit  of  a  world-Christian. 

MAKING  THE  SERVICE  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATIONAL 

VALUE 

The  curriculum  of  service  is  merely  a  part  of 
the  whole  educational  program,  and  as  such,  it 
must  be  planned  so  as  to  be  of  real  educational 
value.  No  haphazard,  sporadic  giving  of  time, 
interest,  and  money  will  really  develop  serving 
Christians.  No  mere  telling  boys  and  girls  that 
service  is  the  thing  will  insure  its  practice. 

The  Christian  cause  will  depend  for  its  fulfillment 

261 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


upon  those  Christians  who  have  had  training  in 
the  practice  of  Christianity.  The  proposed  pro¬ 
gram  of  service  activities  is  the  church’s  practice 
laboratory  for  growing  Christians. 

The  service  program  can  be  made  of  educational 
value  in  the  following  ways: 

By  grading  it. — Education  depends  upon  adjust¬ 
ing  the  teaching  material  to  the  age,  interests, 
and  capacities  of  different  groups.  If  service  is  to 
educate  for  further  service,  its  activities  must  be 
selected  upon  such  a  basis.  The  Junior  boy  ought 
not  to  be  asked  to  fold  paper  flower  baskets,  if  he 
could,  with  tools  and  paint  brush,  make  or  mend 
toys.  It  is  not  easy  to  determine  activities  suitable 
to  the  developing  interests  and  capacities  of  boys 
and  girls.  If  we  err  in  our  choices,  it  is  usually  that 
we  have  chosen  services  which  are  too  easy  rather 
than  those  which  are  too  hard.  The  necessity  for 
a  developing  program  is  apparent.  Boys  and  girls 
will  not  grow,  they  will  only  lose  interest,  when, 
through  a  lack  of  planning,  they  are  asked  to  do 
the  same  kinds  of  things  year  after  year.  There 
is  so  much  of  the  world’s  work  to  be  done,  that 
duplication  and  overlapping  are  unnecessary. 

By  making  it  worth  while. — Juniors  have  reached 
that  stage  of  development  where  they  require  a 
reason  for  the  thing  they  are  asked  to  do.  They 
want  to  feel  that  they  are  engaged  upon  worth 
while  tasks.  In  the  public  schools,  boys  and  girls 
of  Junior  age,  during  the  Great  War  and  since, 
have  shown  themselves  capable  of  undertaking  and 
carrying  through  some  very  responsible  community 
tasks.  The  church  should  avail  itself  of  these 
latent  powers  of  service. 

262 


TRAINING  IN  SERVICE 


By  allowing  for  pupil  initiative. — Juniors  will 
feel  the  worth-whileness  of  any  task  of  their  own 
choosing.  They  enjoy  an  increased  sense  of  respon¬ 
sibility  for  the  accomplishment  of  any  undertaking 
which  they  themselves  select.  It  is  theirs  and  they 
rise  to  its  fulfillment.  Education  comes,  in  part, 
from  the  intelligent  investigation  and  discussion  of 
different  possibilities  of  service. 

By  right  combination  of  difficulty  and  ease  of 
accomplishment. — In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the 
Junior  wants  to  see  results,  his  efforts  are  not  always 
well  sustained  and  his  attention  is  apt  to  be  vari¬ 
able.  His  service  activities  must  not  be  so  hard 
as  to  discourage  him.  This  would  not  be  true 
grading.  Yet  he  should,  year  by  year,  be  able  to 
work  at  increasingly  difficult  tasks  and  to  learn  to 
sacrifice  some  things  for  the  “joy  that  is  set  before 
him.”  When  he  reaches  a  point  of  fatigue  and 
play  interests  crowd  out  his  interest  in  service, 
then  is  the  time  to  reenforce  his  motive.  Make  the 
service  activity  real  play  so  that  he  may  say,  like 
Grenfell  of  his  difficult  work  in  the  frozen  north, 
“It  is  all  great  fun.” 

By  adequate  preparation  for  service. — The  intel¬ 
ligent  investigation  and  discussion  of  worthy  causes 
helps  to  “set”  the  mind  toward  them.  Christianity 
depends  upon  intelligent  service.  Information  and 
activity  go  hand  in  hand.  The  whole  program  of 
missionary  education  should  be  a  preparation  for 
distinct  types  of  service  activities.  Biographies  of 
great  serviceable  lives  stimulate  the  desire  to 
serve.  The  attractive  mission  study  books  now 
available  for  Juniors  suggest  fields  where  service 
is  needed. 


263 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


There  should  also  be  detailed  instruction  on 
particular  tasks.  If  a  Junior  class  is  to  take  out 
a  membership  in  the  local  Infant  Welfare  Society, 
that  class  should  secure  the  literature  which  ex¬ 
plains  the  purpose  and  accomplishments  of  this 
great  work  for  better  babies.  The  class  should 
talk  with  a  representative  of  the  society,  should 
go  to  the  annual  Welfare  Exhibit,  and  should  visit 
the  institutions  for  child  welfare  in  the  community. 
By  such  training  will  be  developed  a  generation  of 
intelligent  community  Christians.  This  same  pro¬ 
gram  of  study  and  investigation  may  be  used  in 
helping  a  mission  school,  the  Associated  Charities, 
the  Red  Cross,  or  any  other  organization. 

By  directing  it  toward  representative  needs. — 
A  service  program,  if  truly  educational,  makes  it 
possible  for  each  Junior  to  participate  in  many 
kinds  of  service.  It  does  not  perpetuate  the  type 
of  Christian  who  will  work  for  foreign  missions  to 
the  exclusion  of  home,  or  vice  versa.  It  is  quite 
possible  for  a  person  to  arrive  at  maturity  with 
his  “service  consciousness”  only  partially  developed. 
Often  people  do  not  lack  sympathy  for  folks  far 
away*  but  their  failure  to  help  out  in  certain  great 
missionary  causes  is  due  to  the  fact  that  they  have 
never  been  trained  in  their  childhood  to  service 
outside  of  a  limited  little  world  immediately  sur¬ 
rounding  them. 

A  graded  curriculum  of  service  should  be  so 
planned  that  every  Junior  has  an  opportunity  to 
perform  some  services  for  his  own  churchy  his  imme¬ 
diate  community ,  his  nation  and  the  larger  world. 
These  last  two  provide  the  home  and  foreign  mis¬ 
sionary  service  activities. 

264 


TRAINING  IN  SERVICE 


By  preventing  false  motives. — We  have  already 
indicated  that  the  object  of  service  is  not  only 
to  help  the  one  in  need  but  also  to  create  a  desirable 
attitude  in  the  one  who  serves.  A  great  deal  of 
philanthropy  is  handed  out  with  a  gracious  but 
condescending  attitude,  as  though  the  philanthropist 
were  of  different  stuff  from  the  one  whom  he  is 
helping.  It  is  particularly  easy  for  children,  and 
especially  those  of  Junior  age,  who  are  readily 
puffed  up  with  pride  in  their  own  welldoing,  to  get 
the  idea  that  the  very  fact  that  they  are  able  to 
help  means  that  they  are  superior  to  those  who 
must  receive  help  from  them.  This  “holier  than 
thou”  attitude  is  far  from  Christlike  and  ought  to 
be  discouraged  whenever  it  appears. 

The  Junior  can  reason  things  out  with  some 
assistance  and  the  right  kind  of  instruction  will 
help  obviate  this  difficulty.  Teach  the  Junior  why 
this  particular  need  exists,  that  it  is  not  the  fault 
of  those  in  need  that  they  are  poor  or  suffering. 
Let  him  understand  why  certain  social  conditions 
are  as  they  are.  Then  cultivate  in  him  a  real  admi¬ 
ration  for  other  people,  regardless  of  their  outward 
appearances  or  circumstances.  Last  of  all,  show 
him,  whenever  possible,  how  these  very  people 
may  be  rendering  service  for  him.  It  may  be  the 
miner  in  the  depths  of  the  earth,  the  miller,  the 
bread  maker,  the  clothes  manufacturer  all  the 
countless  host  of  those  who  labor  that  others  may 
enjoy  the  fruits  of  their  hands. 

Whenever  possible,  plan  an  exchange  of  gifts 
or  service  between  two  opposite  kinds  of  groups, 
or  a  mutual  undertaking  for  both  groups.  If  a  group 
of  suburban  Juniors  can  get  in  touch  with  a  group 

265 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


of  Juniors  in  a  city  tenement  district,  it  is  possible 
to  arrange  for  an  exchange  of  services  performed. 
One  suburban  Junior  Department  gave  a  Christ¬ 
mas  party  for  a  group  of  Italian  boys  and  girls. 
As  their  share  of  the  party  the  Italian  guests  put 
on  a  little  Christmas  program.  In  another  suburban 
community  where,  on  the  outskirts  of  the  village, 
there  was  a  mission  church  school,  the  boys  and  girls 
of  both  schools  worked  up  a  foreign-missionary 
pageant  together  to  be  given  at  the  annual  meeting 
of  the  Woman’s  Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  This 
getting  together  of  different  kinds  of  social  groups 
in  cooperative  enterprises  will  help  to  promote  a 
wider  sympathy  and  a  truer  understanding. 

By  carrying  service  activities  through  to  com¬ 
pletion. — If  “hell  is  paved  with  good  intentions, ” 
some  of  the  paving  blocks  must  represent  activities 
started  and  never  finished.  Better  that  a  Junior 
class  undertake  one  service  project  and  carry  it 
through  to  its  logical  conclusion  than  that  it  get 
a  number  of  irons  in  the  fire  and  just  leave  them 
there.  Juniors  like  to  feel  that  they  have  “arrived.” 
They  will  not  always  “arrive”  if  left  to  themselves, 
for  their  boundless  energy  may  quickly  shift  to  a 
new  and  more  alluring  interest.  We  must  help 
them  to  stand  fast. 

A  SUGGESTED  PROGRAM  OF  SERVICE  FOR  THE  JUNIOR 

DEPARTMENT 

The  real  value  of  any  curriculum  of  graded  social 
service  is  to  be  secured  when  the  activities  grow 
out  of  the  interests  of  the  children,  the  special 
needs  of  their  own  churches  and  communities,  or 
the  opportunities  of  service  provided  for  them  by 

266 


TRAINING  IN  SERVICE 


their  own  home  or  foreign  mission  boards.  No 
ready-made  program  of  service  can  be  taken  over 
by  a  Junior  Department  and  used  without  alter¬ 
ation.  It  must  be  adapted  to  the  capacities  of  the 
particular  groups  and  to  the  kind  of  community 
in  which  the  department  is  located.  Rural  churches 
will  have  some  opportunities  of  service  peculiar  to 
their  own  situation,  and  the  same  is  true  of  city 
schools.  The  following  program  is  very  general. 
It  indicates: 

1.  That  instruction  about  service  and  the  service 
rendered  must  go  hand  in  hand.  The  service  activ¬ 
ity  will  grow  out  of  the  knowledge  of  need,  and 
vice  versa. 

2.  That  service  activities  should  meet  a  variety 
of  needs  beginning  with  the  world  near  at  hand 
and  extending  to  more  distant  places  and  people. 

3.  That  service  activities  in  the  third  year  Junior 
should  be  more  mature  and  difficult  than  those 
planned  for  the  first  year  Juniors. 

4.  That  some  services  should  be  department 
undertakings  in  which  all  the  Junior  classes  unite. 
Others  will  be  specially  cared  for  by  individual 
classes. 

The  program  of  graded  service  affords  a  splendid 
opportunity  to  lead  the  Junior  to  feel  that  he  is, 
not  just  a  member  of  a  church  school,  a  separate 
organ  from  the  church,  but  that  the  church  school 
class  and  department  are  merely  the  means  through 
which  he,  as  a  member  of  the  church,  is  doing  his 
share  to  carry  on  its  work. 

Other  valuable  suggestions  for  service  activities 
appropriate  for  Juniors  may  be  secured  from  the 
books,  Graded  Social  Service  in  the  Sunday  School , 

267 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


by  Hutchins,  and  The  Church  School  of  Citizenship , 
by  Hoben.  In  the  office  of  the  Religious  Education 
Association2  there  are  pamphlets  published  by 
individual  church  schools  which  indicate  their 
service  programs. 

Service  Activities  for  the  Department 


service 

1.  Regular  weekly  offering 
for  church  support. 

Occasionally  a  special 
gift  of  a  picture  or 
flowers  for  some  place 
in  the  church. 

2.  Articles  made  and  con¬ 
tributed  to  go  in  a 
Christmas  box  to  the 
church  missionary  on  the 
foreign  field.  A  July 
Christmas  tree. 

Plan  and  present  an 
evening’s  program  in 
honor  of  the  church  mis¬ 
sionary  home  on  fur¬ 
lough. 

Juniors  dramatize 
some  incident  portraying 
their  service  work  on  the 
foreign  field  as  a  part  of 
a  church  school  pageant 
of  Service. 

Regular  weekly  pledg¬ 
es  to  foreign  missionary 
work  of  the  church. 


INFORMATION 

1.  About  the  home  church 
and  its  expenditures. 
Salaries  for  pastor,  and 
other  workers,  upkeep  of 
church  house,  church 
school  supplies,  social  life 
for  young  people,  etc. 

2.  About  the  work  of  the 
church  missionary  on  the 
foreign  field.  Missionary 
programs  and  story 
hours  depicting  the  work 
of  educational,  medical, 
and  other  types  of  mis¬ 
sionary  work. 

Junior  Mission  Study 
books  as  texts  in  the 
church  school  classes  or 
in  the  week-day  meeting 
of  the  Junior  Depart¬ 
ment. 


2  Write  to  Religious  Education  Association,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

268 


TRAINING  IN  SERVICE 


Service  activities  asso¬ 
ciated  with  Special  Days. 

(a)  Dinners  to  fam¬ 
ilies  under  direc¬ 
tion  of  local  Asso¬ 
ciated  Charities. 


(b)  Gifts  of  Christmas 
toys,  etc. 

M  oney  for 
Christmas  for 
Syrian  and  Arme¬ 
nian  children  or 
suffering  children 
anywhere. 

(c)  Special  Lincoln’s 
Birthday  offering 
for  a  Negro  school. 
Possibly  gifts  of 
flags  or  school  sup¬ 
plies  for  such  a 
school. 

(d)  Children’s  Day. 
Take  Children’s 
Day  flowers  to 
hospitals  and 
down  to  crowded 
city  sections. 

Start  to  save 
and  earn  money  to 
provide  summer 
outings  for  city 
children. 


3.  About  Special  Days  call¬ 
ing  for  service  expression. 

(a)  Thanksgiving. 

About  work  of 
Associated  Chari¬ 
ties.  Special  in¬ 
formation  about 
particular  families 
needing  help. 

( b )  About  same  fam¬ 
ilies  helped  at 
Thanksgiving  or 
new  groups. 

About  starving 
children  in  Bible 
lands  or  others. 

(c)  Lincoln’s  Birth¬ 
day. 

About  Negro 
situation.  The 
unfinished  work  of 
Abraham  Lincoln 
and  Booker  T. 
Washington. 

( d )  About  children  in 
the  city  who  do 
not  have  flowers 
or  grass  or  access 
to  the  country. 
Stories  to  pave 
way  for  interest 
in  providing  trips 
to  the  country  for 
such  children  and 
their  mothers. 


269 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


( e )  Clean-Up  Week. 
Children  pledge  to 
clean  up  their  own 
yards  and  street. 


(J)  Be  Kind  to  Ani¬ 
mals  Week.  Make 
bandages  for  in¬ 
jured  animals. 

M  ake  bird 
houses  and  bird 
baths. 

4.  Services  for  the  shut-ins. 
Singing  Christmas  carols 
under  windows  of  shut- 
ins  on  Christmas  eve. 
Each  class  look  after  its 
own  sick  members. 

5.  Singing  in  the  Junior 
Choirs. 


(i e )  About  the  advan¬ 
tages  of  clean 
cities.  Story  of 
Colonel  Waring 
and  his  enlistment 
of  children  in  a 
clean  -  up  cam¬ 
paign. 

(/)  About  the  Blue 
Cross  Society. 
Ways  in  which 
kindness  can  be 
shown  to  animals. 
Appreciation  of 
what  animals  do 
for  us. 

4.  About  particular  people 
in  the  church  who  are 
shut  in  and  would  appre¬ 
ciate  being  remembered. 

5.  About  the  place  of 
church  music,  its  rela¬ 
tion  to  worship,  etc. 


Service  Activities  for  Each  Junior  Class 
First  Year  Juniors 


SERVICE  ACTIVITY 

1.  For  our  home  church. 

(a)  Assisting  the 
Junior  superinten¬ 
dent  on  Sundays 
and  week  days  for 
two  months. 


INFORMATION 

1.  About  the  home  church 
and  its  need  of  help  in 
various  ways. 

About  service  in  the 
church  school  as  being 
one  department  of  the 
church. 


270 


TRAINING  IN  SERVICE 


(6)  Distributing  hym¬ 
nals,  pasting 
mimeographed 
songs  in  Junior 
Hymnals,  mount¬ 
ing  pictures  for 
department  use. 

(c)  Supplying  flowers 
for  church  pulpit 
one  Sunday. 

( d )  Looking  out  for 
shut-ins. 

2.  For  Our  Community. 

(а)  Gifts  of  toys  or 
milk  or  apples  for 
the  Day  Nursery 
or  the  Children’s 
Home. 

(б)  Plan  and  give  a 
party  for  some  of 
these  children. 

3.  For  Our  Nation. 

(a)  Correspond  e  n  c  e 
with  denomina- 
tional  school 
among  the  Indians 
to  see  what  is 
needed. 

Send  money  for 
desks,  or  school 
supplies.  Send 
magazines  or  other 
articles  asked  for. 

( b )  Send  the  American 
Boy  or  Youth's 
Companion  to 
some  boys  and 

271 


2.  About  the  Day  Nursery 
and  the  Children’s 
Home. 

Visits  to  these  places. 


3.  About  our  home  mis¬ 
sionary  enterprises. 

(a)  About  the  Ameri¬ 
can  Indians.  Use 
the  story  of 
“Goodbird  the 
Indian.” 

( b )  About  boys  and 
girls  in  remote 
rural  districts  or 
the  children  of 
frontier  mission¬ 
aries. 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


girls  in  the  coun¬ 
try. 

Correspond 
with  these  boys 
and  girls. 

4.  For  Our  World. 

(а)  Make  scrapbooks 
for  children  in 
Chinese  hospital. 

(б)  Girls  make  square 
handkerchiefs  one 
yard  square  for 
Chinese  girls  to 
carry  school  books 


4.  Stories  about  one  or  two 
specific  missions.  Stories 
emphasizing  the  admir¬ 
able  qualities  of  boys 
and  girls  of  other  races. 
Information  about  the 
specific  children  to  be 
helped. 


in. 

Second  Year  Juniors 


SERVICE  ACTIVITIES 

i.  For  Our  Home  Church 

(a)  Preparing  materi¬ 
als  to  be  used  in 
Primary  Depart¬ 
ment. 

(b)  Assisting  depart¬ 
ment  superintend¬ 
ent  with  hymnals, 
etc. 

(c)  Placing  flowers  in 
pulpit  one  Sun¬ 
day. 

(d)  Clean  department 
closets. 

(e)  Make  surprise 
bags  for  sick  boys 
and  girls  in  their 
class  or  other 
classes. 


INFORMATION 

1.  About  the  varied  work 
of  the  church,  music, 
preaching,  social  service, 
missionary  education. 

About  other  depart¬ 
ments  of  the  church 
school. 

Occasional  opportu¬ 
nities  to  hear  short  talks 
by  the  pastor  or  to  con¬ 
fer  with  him  as  to  ways 
in  which  the  Juniors 
may  help  the  church. 


272 


TRAINING  IN  SERVICE 


(/)  Make  objects  to 
illustrate  Bible 
customs. 

(g)  Sing  in  one  of 
Junior  choirs. 

For  Our  Community. 

(a)  Take  out  a  class 
membership  in  the 
local  Infant  Wel¬ 
fare  Society. 

( b )  As  a  class,  visit 
Exhibition  of  the 
Infant  Welfare  So¬ 
ciety  during  Bet¬ 
ter-Babies  Week. 

(c)  Help  distribute 
posters  advertis¬ 
ing  this  exhibit. 

( d )  Supply  milk  for 
some  baby  center. 

(e)  Sell  Christmas 
Red  Cross  Seals. 

For  Our  Nation. 

(a)  Collect  and  ar¬ 
range  in  piles 
pieces  of  bright- 
colored  cloths  of 
equal  sizes  for  col¬ 
ored  girls  to  use 
in  making  quilts. 

(b)  Collect  colored  pic¬ 
tures  to  send  to 
Negro  school  chil¬ 
dren. 

(c)  Earn  money  and 
buy  boxes  of  col¬ 
ored  crayons,  lead 


2.  About  Infant  Welfare. 

Why  so  many  babies 
die.  How  this  can  be 
prevented.  Need  of  air, 
sunshine,  food,  play. 
How  the  Infant  Wel¬ 
fare  Society  helps  chil¬ 
dren  in  all  these  ways. 


3.  About  our  nation  and 
the  home  missionary 
work  of  the  church. 

About  the  Negroes. 
Secure  pictures  from 
some  Southern  school 
showing  types  of  chil¬ 
dren  and  activities. 

Study  about  the  Ne¬ 
groes  in  our  Northern 
cities,  the  housing  prob¬ 
lem,  etc. 

About  Booker  T. 
Washington  and  schools 
like  Tuskegee. 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


pencils,  knives,  for 
children  in  a  Ne¬ 
gro  school. 

4.  Our  World. 

(a)  Collect  surplus 
church  school  text¬ 
books  and  sup¬ 
plies,  tie  together 
in  piles,  label  and 
pack  to  go  to  some 
mission  school  in 
Turkey  and  Ja¬ 
pan.  Write  direc¬ 
tions  for  using. 

(b)  Make  surgical 
dressings  for  a  for¬ 
eign  hospital. 
This  is  a  good  way 
to  conserve  the 
Junior  Red  Cross 
work  which  the 
children  did  in  the 


4.  About  the  world  needs 
and  the  way  in  which 
the  foreign  missionary 
work  of  the  church  is 
supplying  them. 

Stories  about  the  par¬ 
ticular  foreign  mission 
school  which  the  chil¬ 
dren  are  helping. 

Stories  about  foreign 
hospitals  and  medical 
work.  Such  a  story  as 
“An  Arm  Out  of  Joint 
and  What  Came  of  It.” 


war. 

Third  Year  Juniors 

SERVICE  ACTIVITIES  INFORMATION 


i.  Our  Home  Church. 

(a)  Messenger  service. 
Distributing  cal¬ 
endars,  church 
letters,  home  de¬ 
partment  quarter¬ 
lies,  etc. 

( b )  Make  objects  illus¬ 
trating  Bible  and 
missionary  lessons 
for  church 


1.  About  the  need  of  help 
by  the  pastor  and  those 
working  in  the  church 
office. 

Need  to  economize 
church  funds. 

Keeping  the  church 
house  in  order  and  good 
repair. 


museum. 


274 


TRAINING  IN  SERVICE 


(c)  Sing  Christmas 
carols  for  shut-ins. 

(d)  Girls  make  ban¬ 
ners  for  Junior 
Department.  Also 
runners  for  piano 
and  tables.  Reed 
baskets  for  class 
supplies. 

(e)  Boys  make  screens 
for  Junior  Depart¬ 
ment,  racks  for 
coats  and  hats. 
Reed  baskets  for 
class  supplies. 

(/)  Look  over  hym¬ 
nals,  paste  in  loose 
pages,  clean  soiled 
spots. 

Our  Community. 

(a)  Take  out  a  class 
membership  in  the 
Associated  Char¬ 
ities. 

( b )  Donate  and  col¬ 
lect  clothes  for  lo¬ 
cal  charities  or 
Economy  Shop. 

(c)  Help  Associated 
Charities  espe¬ 
cially  at  Thanks¬ 
giving  and  Christ¬ 
mas. 

(i d )  Secure  votes 
against  Sunday 
movies. 


2.  About  the  Associated 
Charities  and  how  it 
operates. 

About  the  recreational 
facilities  of  the  commu¬ 
nity.  Its  amusements. 

Find  out  how  the  State 
or  city  cares  for  its  tuber¬ 
cular  or  crippled  children. 

Visit  home  for  crippled 
children. 


275 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


3- 


( e )  Take  out  a  class 
membership  in  the 
Red  Cross. 

(/)  Plan  and  give  an 
afternoon  enter¬ 
tainment  for  chil¬ 
dren  in  Home  for 
Cripples. 

Our  Nation . 

(a)  Make  scrapbooks 
for  children  in  the 
Southern  moun¬ 
tains. 

( b )  Save  large,  beau¬ 
tifully  colored  pic¬ 
tures  to  be  used 
on  walls  of  moun¬ 
tain  cabins. 

(c)  Girls  either  make 
simple  garments 
for  babies  or  col¬ 
lect  old  ones  to 
send  to  visiting 
nurse  in  mountain 
districts. 

(d)  Send  books  or  cur¬ 
tain  materials  for 
school  for  moun¬ 
taineers. 

(e)  Make  scrapbooks 
illustrating  the 
principles  of  true 
Americanism.  In¬ 
clude  graphic  pic¬ 
tures  of  citizen¬ 
ship  activities,  sa¬ 
lute  to  American 


3.  About  the  foreigners  in 
our  midst  and  how  we  can 
help  them  to  love  Amer¬ 
ica  and  be  good  Amer¬ 
icans. 

Such  books  as  Amer¬ 
icans  All  or  Giovanni. 

About  the  Southern 
mountaineers,  their 
splendid  qualities  and 
their  limited  opportu¬ 
nities. 


TRAINING  IN  SERVICE 


flag,  the  hymn, 
“America  the 
Beautiful.” 

(/)  Entertain  a  group 
of  children  from  a 
city  mission. 

( g )  Dress  dolls  and 
make  puzzles  for 
city-mission 
Christmas  tree. 

4.  Our  World. 

(a)  Work  bags  con¬ 
taining  crochet 
needles  and  white 
thread  for  Chinese 
women  and  school 
girls. 

(b)  Boys  make  puz¬ 
zles  and  games  for 
Grenfell  Mission. 

(c)  Sell  horn  e-made 
candy  and  pop¬ 
corn  balls  to  pay 
for  scholarship  of 
boy  in  foreign 
school. 


4.  About  some  definite  mis¬ 
sion,  not  duplicating  the 
information  given  in  pre¬ 
vious  years. 

About  school  life  in  for¬ 
eign  countries. 

About  industrial  con¬ 
ditions  as  they  affect  the 
lives  of  children  in  the 
Orient. 


For  Further  Reading : 

Loveland — Training  World  Christians. 

Hutton — The  Missionary  Education  of  Juniors . 
Hutchins — Graded  Social  Service  in  the  Sunday 
School. 

Hoben — The  Church  School  of  Citizenship. 
Diffendorfer — Missionary  Education  in  Home  and 
School. 

m 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Hutton — Things  to  Make. 

World  Friendship  for  Boys  and  Girls,  free  pam¬ 
phlet  by  Missionary  Education  Movement,  150 
Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 


THE  JUNIOR  DEPARTMENT  AT  WORK 

Dr.  John  Dewey  tells  the  story  of  looking  for 
school  desks  for  a  school  where  some  freedom  and 
initiative  were  to  be  allowed  the  pupils  in  place  of 
the  more  stilted  regulations  of  the  formal  school¬ 
room.  After  finding  nothing  that  would  answer 
the  purpose  the  dealer  said:  “I  am  afraid  we  have 
not  what  you  want.  You  want  something  at  which 
the  children  may  work;  these  are  all  for  listening.” 
The  Junior  Department  is  not  and  ought  not  to  be 
a  place  for  just  “listening.”  It  is  a  workshop  in 
which  every  member  should  be  busy.  All  depart¬ 
ment  organization,  all  details  of  records  and  equip¬ 
ment,  exist  merely  to  make  useful  work  possible. 
Unless  they  do  this  they  should  be  changed. 

THE  PURPOSE  OF  ORGANIZATION 

In  many  schools  certain  set  forms  of  organization 
have  been  handed  down  from  one  set  of  officers  to 
another,  and  these  forms  are  perpetuated  from  year 
to  year  without  consideration  of  whether  the  need 
for  them  still  exists  or  whether  they  are  accom¬ 
plishing  the  best  results.  What  are  the  purposes 
of  department  organization  bv  which  we  may  test 
its  usefulness? 

To  develop  responsibility. — One  purpose  of  organ¬ 
ization  is  to  make  responsible  Christians  of  those 
enrolled  in  the  church  school.  Tho  Junior  Depart^ 

279 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


ment  should  be  so  organized  that  it  permits  the 
pupils  to  assume  responsibilities  instead  of  having 
everything  done  by  the  teachers  and  adult  officers. 
We  do  not  want  “just  listening,”  but  working  boys 
and  girls. 

To  develop  leadership. — It  is  not  enough  to 
develop  a  responsible  feeling  in  youth.  Real  initi¬ 
ative  and  leadership  are  needed.  Any  department 
organization  ought  to  be  so  flexible  that  it  can  be 
adapted  to  the  possibilities  of  girl  and  boy  leader¬ 
ship.  There  should  be  no  overhead  organization 
so  rigid  that  the  Junior  superintendent  is  not  free 
to  shape  her  own  policies  for  the  particular  needs 
of  the  Juniors,  while  she  is,  at  the  same  time,  closely 
tied  up  to  the  organization  of  the  entire  school. 

To  create  effective  conditions  for  work. — In  addi¬ 
tion  to  the  development  of  responsibility  and  leader¬ 
ship  in  the  Juniors,  the  purpose  of  department 
organization  is  to  create  the  most  effective  conditions 
for  work.  It  ought  to  be  tested  by  its  ability  to 
further  the  aims  of  religious  education. 

PUPIL  ORGANIZATION 

If  department  organization  is  really  to  develop 
the  initiative  and  responsible  leadership  of  chil¬ 
dren,  it  must  in  some  way  be  in  the  hands  of  the 
children  themselves.  We  shall  need,  as  we  shall 
see  later,  a  complete  and  effective  organization  of 
adult  officers,  but,  under  them,  the  Juniors  them¬ 
selves  should  be  in  training.  Christian  democracy 
depends  upon  the  training  of  youth  in  the  tasks  of 
democracy  by  active  participation  in  a  democratic 
organization  in  the  schoolroom. 

Junior  self-government. — What  form  of  self- 

280 


THE  JUNIOR  DEPARTMENT  AT  WORK 


government  is  best  adapted  to  Juniors?  It  is  im¬ 
possible  to  suggest  any  one  set  form  which  is  better 
than  any  other  for  all  departments  in  all  com¬ 
munities.  Organization,  to  be  truly  helpful,  will 
vary  with  the  size  of  departments,  classes,  or 
churches.  The  types  of  children  will  also  help 
determine  the  form  of  organization. 

Self-government  for  Juniors  should  be  of  a  very 
simple  form,  not  too  complicated  to  be  easily  under¬ 
stood  and  easily  carried  out  by  girls  and  boys  who 
have  not  yet  learned  to  hold  themselves  to  tasks 
for  a  very  long  period  of  time.  One  of  the  simplest 
forms  is  that  of  a  Junior  Council.  The  entire  depart¬ 
ment  elects  a  president  and  a  secretary,  if  there  is 
any  real  job  for  the  secretary  to  do.  Then  each 
class  elects  a  Council  member,  and  these  Council 
members,  together  with  the  Junior  officers  and  the 
adult  officers,  comprise  the  Junior  Council. 

Junior  elections. — Great  care  should  be  taken 
to  train  Juniors  to  choose  officers  wisely.  The 
Junior  is  apt  to  choose  the  best  ball  player  or  the 
boy  who  asserts  himself  rather  than  to  do  any 
real  thinking  about  the  qualities  needed  for  depart¬ 
ment  administration.  Teachers  and  adult  leaders 
should  make  it  quite  clear  to  the  boys  and  girls 
what  these  qualities  are.  Reliability,  willingness, 
prompt  obedience,  the  desire  to  be  of  help — these 
are  the  prime  qualifications.  Care  should  also  be 
taken  to  see  that  the  opportunity  to  be  a  Council 
member  or  department  officer,  is  handed  around, 
so  that  all  have  a  chance  to  lead  for  a  period  of  the 
year.  A  child  should  hold  his  office  long  enough 
to  get  some  real  training  out  of  it,  but  not  so  long 
that  others  will  not  have  the  same  chance. 

281 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


Tasks  for  the  Junior  Council. — What  are  the 
duties  of  the  Junior  Council?  These  will  vary  with 
the  varying  programs  of  different  schools.  In 
general,  the  Council  should  talk  over  what  makes 
a  good  Junior  Department,  noting  such  things  as 
regular  attendance,  promptness,  home  study,  care¬ 
ful  work  in  classes,  and  above  all,  the  school  atti¬ 
tude.  At  the  beginning  of  the  year  each  Council 
member,  with  the  help  of  his  teacher,  should  pre¬ 
sent  these  objectives  to  his  class.  It  is  his  duty  to 
see  that  his  class  does  its  very  best  to  carry  out 
these  aims.  It  may  be  necessary  to  concentrate 
on  some  one  or  two  aims  for  a  definite  period. 

In  order  that  the  Council  members  may  be  con¬ 
scious  of  actual  accomplishment,  they  should  be 
assigned  such  practical  duties  as  ushering,  greeting 
visitors,  seeing  that  the  work  supplies  for  their 
own  classes  are  on  the  class  tables  each  Sunday 
and  put  away  in  their  proper  places  afterward, 
keeping  the  pencils  sharpened,  and  other  necessary 
tasks.  The  Council  members  can  be  responsible 
for  seeing  that  certain  members  of  their  classes 
are  on  hand  to  receive  the  offering  in  the  month 
assigned  to  them  or  to  distribute  hymnals  or  assist 
the  superintendent  in  other  ways. 

The  Junior  Council  can  talk  over  plans  for  depart¬ 
ment  social  service,  for  parties  or  hikes,  for  any 
special  occasions  such  as  Christmas  or  Children’s 
Day.  And  any  class,  through  its  Council  member, 
may  make  a  suggestion  of  a  plan  to  the  Council. 
Occasionally  there  should  be  a  chance  for  the  Junior 
officers  to  preside  over  the  department  meeting, 
either  on  Sunday  or  on  a  week  day.  If  there  are 
week-day  meetings  of  the  department,  the  presL 

282 


THE  JUNIOR  DEPARTMENT  AT  WORK 


dent  may  always  open  this  meeting  and  preside 
during  the  business.  Occasionally  the  classes  will 
plan  and  lead  the  opening  services  of  worship.1 

There  should  be  the  same  organization  for  the 
Junior  Department  and  the  Junior  Epworth  League, 
or  Junior  Christian  Endeavor,  or  any  week-day  meet¬ 
ing  of  the  Junior  group.  The  League  is  only  the 
department  meeting  for  a  certain  part  of  its  pro¬ 
gram  and  the  League  work  should  be  under  the 
supervision  of  the  Junior  superintendent  and  those 
chosen  by  her  to  assist.2 

ADULT  ORGANIZATION 

The  adult  organization  of  the  Junior  Depart¬ 
ment  exists  for  the  purposes  outlined  above.  It 
should  include  all  the  officers  necessary  to  accom¬ 
plish  these  purposes  and  no  more. 

Officers. — The  number  of  officers  will  depend, 
as  did  the  pupil  organization,  upon  the  size  and 
program  of  the  department.  There  will  be  the 
Junior  superintendent,  a  secretary  and  a  treasurer, 
or  a  secretary-treasurer  combined,  and  a  pianist. 
In  addition,  there  may  be  some  one  whose  special 
duty  it  is  to  look  out  for  the  supplies.  This  may 
be  especially  necessary  if  the  department  is  large 
and  both  superintendent  and  secretary  are  too  busy 
to  be  responsible  for  this  end  of  the  work.  Some 
schools  use  a  chorister,  but  he  or  she  should  work 
under  the  direction  of  the  superintendent  who  plans 
the  services  of  worship. 

Duties  of  officers. — The  Junior  superintendent 
has  entire  supervision  of  the  department  program. 

1  See  Chapter  XIII,  "Planning  the  Worship  Program.” 

*  See  Chapter  XIX,  "The  Junior  and  the  Church.” 

283 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


She  works  out  her  year’s  program  with  the  Director 
of  Education,  if  the  church  employs  one.  If  not, 
her  program  is  submitted  to  the  superintendent 
of  the  church  school  and  to  the  Church  School 
Board  or  Committee  of  Religious  Education.  She 
leads  all  the  department  services,  supervises  officers 
and  teachers,  plans  and  presides  at  all  teacher’s 
meetings,  sees  that  her  teachers  are  enrolled  in 
training  classes  and  is  the  personal  friend  of  every 
girl  and  boy  in  her  department. 

The  secretary  keeps  all  department  records,  keeps 
the  files  up-to-date,  together  with  the  superintend¬ 
ent  works  out  a  plan  of  getting  in  touch  with  ab¬ 
sentees,  and  should  think  of  her  task  not  merely 
as  that  of  writing  things  on  paper  but  of  knowing 
the  Junior  membership  personally.  She  should 
make  her  records  living  things  and  should  always 
have  them  in  such  condition  that  they  are  imme¬ 
diately  available  and  useful. 

The  treasurer’s  duties  will  depend  upon  the 
system  of  church-school  finance.  Whatever  that 
system,  the  treasurer  should  keep  a  careful  record 
of  all  pledges  made  by  Juniors  and  should  never 
let  a  Junior  child  fall  behind  in  his  payments  for 
more  than  two  Sundays.  The  treasurer  is  respon¬ 
sible  with  the  superintendent,  for  training  the 
Juniors  in  systematic  and  generous  giving. 

The  secretary  of  supplies  will  keep  the  supply 
closet  in  order,  will  give  out  all  textbooks,  and 
relieve  the  superintendent  of  all  such  details  on 
Sunday  mornings.  A  class  needing  paste,  another 
asking  for  pencils,  a  child  without  a  textbook — 
these  are  details  which  need  not  come  to  the  super¬ 
intendent,  who  ought  to  be  free  to  greet  the  children, 

284 


THE  JUNIOR  DEPARTMENT  AT  WORK 


to  lead  her  service  of  worship  without  interruption, 
and  to  supervise  the  teaching. 

The  pianist  of  the  Junior  Department  has  a  great 
opportunity.  This  opportunity  has  been  explained 
in  the  chapter  on  worship.3 

Teachers’  meetings  and  training  classes. — There 
should  be  regular  meetings  of  the  teachers  and 
officers  of  the  department.  If  the  teachers  do  not 
have  access  to  training  classes,  the  Junior  super¬ 
intendent  should  enroll  in  a  Summer  School  of 
Religious  Education  or  some  Winter  Training 
School  and  plan  to  bring  back  to  her  teachers  the 
results  of  her  study.  This  can  be  done  at  monthly 
teachers’  meetings  or  by  some  other  plan.  It  is 
well  to  have  every  meeting  of  teachers  and  officers 
consider  some  phase  of  Junior  work  from  the  educa¬ 
tional  point  of  view,  in  addition  to  discussing  the 
specific  problems  of  the  department.  A  good  text¬ 
book  on  Junior  Methods  may  be  made  the  basis 
of  these  discussions. 

However,  every  Junior  teacher  ought  to  plan 
to  take  such  courses  as  were  suggested  in  Chapter 
VI.4  In  addition,  there  are  correspondence  courses 
in  teacher  training  for  which  credit  is  given  on  the 
Standard  Teacher  Training  Diploma.  Of  prep¬ 
aration  for  teaching  it  is  true,  as  it  is  of  many  other 
things,  that  “where  there  is  a  will  there  is  a  way.” 

RECORDS  OF  DEPARTMENT  WORK 

One  of  the  weak  points  in  many  church  schools 
is  the  keeping  of  records.  Not  much  thought  is 
given  to  the  real  purposes  and  usefulness  of  records, 

*  Chapter  XII,  “The  Elements  of  a  Service  of  Worship." 

4  Chapter  VI,  “The  Art  of  Teaching  Juniors." 

285 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


and  such  as  are  kept  are  often  not  up-to-date  or  in 
the  form  in  which  they  can  be  readily  referred  to 
and  used.  The  Junior  superintendent  has  the 
opportunity  to  compile  some  very  helpful  records. 

The  purpose  of  records. — Records  are  useful  in 
keeping  track  of  the  growth  of  a  school  both  in 
numbers  and  in  expansion  of  the  work.  They  should 
help  those  in  charge  to  see  what  has  been  done  in 
previous  years,  in  the  way  of  enrollment,  benev¬ 
olence,  service  work,  worship,  and  study.  But  the 
most  valuable  purpose  which  records  serve  is  to 
tell  the  story  of  individual  pupils,  so  that  new 
teachers  and  old  ones  may  understand  home  condi¬ 
tions,  the  pupil’s  attitude,  his  development  from 
year  to  year.  A  file  of  such  records  is  no  collection 
of  dry  statistics;  it  is,  as  Paul  might  have  said, 
“a  living  epistle.” 

Useful  types  of  record-keeping. — The  Junior 
superintendent  will  want  to  know  on  an  enroll¬ 
ment  card,  the  Junior’s  name,  his  address,  his 
telephone  number,  the  date  of  his  birth,  the  date 
of  entering  the  church  school,  his  grade  in  public 
school,  his  grade  in  the  Junior  Department,  his 
parents’  names  and  their  church  affiliation,  the 
name  of  his  church-school  teacher.  It  will  prob¬ 
ably  be  found  helpful  to  have  duplicates  of  these 
cards,  one  file  arranged  in  alphabetical  order  and 
one  by  Junior  classes.  The  cards  should  be  of 
uniform  size.  There  are  times  when  one  wants 
to  locate  a  pupil  quickly  in  the  alphabetical  file. 
There  are  other  occasions  when  one  wants  to  take 
a  whole  class  enrollment  from  the  files  when  the 
pupils  or  parents  of  just  one  class  are  to  be  tel¬ 
ephoned  or  addressed  by  letter. 

286 


THE  JUNIOR  DEPARTMENT  AT  WORK 


Whoever  is  in  charge  of  recognizing  the  Junior 
birthdays  will  want  still  another  file  arranged  by 
months  and  birthdays.  Card  catalogues  are  much 
better  than  records  kept  in  books,  as  cards  can  be 
withdrawn  when  pupils  leave  school  or  are  absent 
for  several  Sundays. 

But  there  ought  to  be  a  more  intimate  record  of 
each  pupil  than  the  one  indicated  above.  The 
information  on  such  enrollment  cards  is  exceedingly 
useful,  but  it  is  only  the  outer  husk  and  reveals 
very  little  of  all  that  the  Junior  teacher  ought  to 
know  in  order  that  she  may  understand  her  pupils. 
Each  teacher  ought  to  keep  a  card  file  of  her  own 
class  members.  On  this  card  she  should  note  any 
of  the  information  suggested  above  which  she 
needs,  such  as  address,  phone  number,  parents’ 
names,  etc.  But,  in  addition,  she  should  jot  down 
such  things  as  the  following: 

1.  What  are  the  home  conditions? 

The  occupation  of  the  father.  The  number 
of  brothers  and  sisters.  The  kind  of  a  house 
or  apartment.  Comparative  luxury  or  pov¬ 
erty.  Christian  influence  of  the  home.  Atti¬ 
tude  of  parents  toward  the  church  school. 

2.  The  kind  of  recreation  which  the  child  enjoys. 
Moving  pictures.  How  often  does  he  go?  To 
what  kind?  Kind  of  books  read.  Friends. 

3.  His  standing  in  public  school. 

4.  The  pupil’s  characteristics.  His  attitude  in 
the  class  and  department.  Any  indications  of 
what  the  child  thinks  or  feels. 

5.  Any  effect  upon  his  everyday  living  of  the 
lessons  studied  in  the  church  school. 

Information  such  as  this  will  be  culled  from 

287 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


visits  in  the  home,  talks  with  the  parents,  and  the 
public-school  teachers,  and  from  personal  observa¬ 
tion  of  the  child.  Parents  may  in  time  learn  to 
talk  freely  with  the  teacher  about  their  children 
and  their  special  needs  as  well  as  the  ways  in  which 
the  church  school  can  help  the  children.  Of  course 
Junior  girls  and  boys  should  not  know  that  they 
are  being  talked  over.  They  should  feel  that  all 
interchanges  between  parents  and  teachers  are  made 
in  the  friendliest  spirit.  Some  such  record  of  each 
pupil  ought  to  be,  not  only  in  the  hands  of  the 
teacher,  but  in  the  files  of  the  Junior  Department. 

Of  other  records  we  cannot  speak  at  length.  For 
her  own  reference,  the  Junior  superintendent  will 
want  to  keep  a  copy  of  the  worship  themes  for  each 
year  and  of  the  services  of  worship,  noting  when 
there  have  been  desired  results  from  a  particular 
service.  She  will  want  on  file  the  course  of  study 
for  each  year  and  the  program  of  service  activities. 
As  a  basis  for  discussion  of  individual  and  of  class 
problems,  some  kind  of  a  weekly  or  monthly  report 
from  each  teacher  will  be  helpful.  Teachers  can 
note  down  methods  of  teaching  tried  and  found 
successful,  reactions  of  pupils  to  the  services  of 
worship,  indications  of  growth  in  character,  or 
evidences  that  certain  pupils  need  special  attention. 
Such  reports  should  not  be  so  frequent  or  so  in¬ 
volved  as  to  be  a  burden  to  teachers,  but  every 
teacher  will  soon  learn  to  see  how  valuable  it  is 
to  keep  records  of  work  done  and  successful  accom¬ 
plishment. 

For  the  purpose  of  cultivating  certain  invaluable 
habits  class  records  of  attendance,  promptness, 
bringing  Bibles,  doing  home  work,  and  of  school 

288 


THE  JUNIOR  DEPARTMENT  AT  WORK 


attitude  are  sometimes  kept.  On  the  basis  of  such 
records  a  personal  report  is  sent  to  every  home 
once  a  month  or  at  least  once  in  two  months  stating 
the  ranking  of  the  pupil.  To  make  such  reports 
truly  helpful  to  parents  and  pupils,  they  should 
not  be  after  the  manner  of  the  formal  grading  of 
the  old-fashioned  public  school  report.  The  gist 
of  the  records  should  be  put  into  one  or  two  sen¬ 
tences  which  are  a  personal  note  from  teacher  or 
superintendent  to  parents,  indicating  just  where 
is  strength  and  where  weakness  and  how  best  to 
meet  the  situation  and  help  the  pupil.  Such  reports 
should  be  frank  and  honest,  but  always  earnest 
and  friendly.  Any  cases  requiring  special  attention 
should  always  be  preceded  or  followed  up  by  a 
personal  interview. 

Making  use  of  records. — No  department  or 
church  school  should  be  cluttered  up  with  records 
which  are  never  or  seldom  referred  to.  All  records 
of  one  kind  should  be  kept  on  uniform  cards  or 
sheets  and  filed  for  convenient  reference  in  a  con¬ 
venient  place.  They  should  not  be  used  promiscu¬ 
ously,  but  only  by  those  who,  for  the  best  interests 
of  pupils  and  school,  need  the  information  which 
they  contain. 

EQUIPMENT  FOR  A  WORKING  JUNIOR  ROOM 

The  question  of  religious  educational  equipment 
is  still  in  an  experimental  condition.  That  church 
which  is  planning  to  erect  a  new  building  ought 
to  take  plenty  of  time  to  investigate  and  discover 
what  has  been  done  in  some  of  the  newest  church 
plants.  But  it  is  not  enough  that  a  committee 
which  knows  little  about  church  architecture  or  the 

289 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


religious  educational  needs  of  youth  should  merely 
visit  churches.  The  building  committee,  which 
should  contain  some  members  who  have  particularly 
in  mind  the  needs  of  the  girls  and  boys,  should 
consult  with  some  good  church  bureau  of  archi¬ 
tecture.4 5  Such  a  bureau  will  know  the  best  church 
plants  to  visit  and  will  give  advice  with  the  par¬ 
ticular  needs  of  a  particular  church  in  mind.  The 
church  having  a  small  sum  of  money  to  spend  ought 
to  avail  itself  of  such  experienced  help. 

Arrangement. — The  Junior  room  ought  to  be 
large  enough  to  provide  for  the  needs  of  growing 
and  constantly  active  bodies  of  Junior  boys  and 
girls.  If  possible,  separate  classrooms  opening 
from  or  adjoining  a  general  meeting  room  should 
be  provided,  at  least  for  the  older  Junior  classes. 
With  the  introduction  of  the  freer  classroom  atmos¬ 
phere  there  are  certain  types  of  work  which  are 
not  easy  to  carry  on  except  where  privacy  can  be 
assured.  It  is  also  true  that  the  teacher  who  wants 
to  make  the  classroom  period  not  only  educational 
but  also  worshipful  needs  to  have  privacy,  just 
herself  and  her  pupils  unobserved  by  any  other 
watching  eyes.  Because  the  Junior  age  is  a  noisy, 
active  age,  it  is  often  difficult  to  maintain  good 
discipline  when  classes  meet  where  children  are 
continually  distracted  by  neighboring  classes. 

If  separate  rooms  are  not  available,  the  Junior 
room  should  be  so  large  that  there  is  plenty  of 
space  between  class  groups,  and  so  that  screens  may 
be  placed  around  classes  when  desired,  to  insure 
privacy.  Screens  ought  to  be  strong  and  heavy 


4  Bureau  of  Architecture  of  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  58  East  Washington 

Street,  Chicago. 

290 


THE  JUNIOR  DEPARTMENT  AT  WORK 


enough  to  allow  pictures  to  be  attached  to  them, 
and  maps,  and  even  a  hanging  blackboard,  unless 
some  other  provision  is  made  for  blackboard  space. 

Whenever  possible  there  should  be  space  in  the 
center  of  the  room  where  the  Juniors  may  meet 
for  their  service  of  worship  instead  of  sitting  around 
in  class  groups.  The  atmosphere  of  worship  is 
far  more  reverential  when  there  is  an  appropriate 
place  for  it.  A  few  very  fortunate  schools  have 
small  chapels  available  for  this  purpose. 

Either  outside  of  the  Junior  room  or  at  the  back 
there  should  be  hooks  or  some  arrangement  for  the 
care  of  wraps,  so  that  they  may  be  removed  and 
hung  safely  out  of  the  way  as  soon  as  the  children 
enter.  Some  newer  buildings  have  devices  in  the 
walls  which  hide  all  view  of  wraps.  Where  space 
is  very  limited  removable  racks  may  be  placed  in 
the  room  on  Sundays. 

Room  decorations. — The  Junior  room  ought  to  be 
as  beautiful  and  as  attractive  to  girls  and  boys  as 
the  amount  of  money  available  can  make  it.  Chil¬ 
dren  will  respond  to  a  remarkable  degree  to  a  large, 
sunshiny  room,  with  artistically  tinted  walls,  simple 
but  beautiful  curtains,  where  plants  are  growing 
and  the  room  invites  one  to  linger.  Tans  and  some 
shades  of  brown  make  a  good  background  for  pic¬ 
tures  and  permit  a  combination  of  other  colors. 

The  writer  remembers  a  very  beautiful  Junior 
room  done  in  tones  of  ivory,  with  inexpensive  cur¬ 
tains  of  deep  blue  and  dark  oak  furniture.  The 
ivory-colored  painted  walls  would  wash,  and  it  was 
not  much  more  difficult  to  keep  them  clean  than 
a  tan  would  have  been.  Plain  tan-colored  or  linen- 
colored  crash  makes  serviceable  and  artistic  cur- 

291 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


tains,  if  a  bit  of  color  is  introduced  some  other 
place  in  the  room.  Colors  in  curtain  material 
should  be  avoided  as  they  are  apt  to  fade  and  look 
shabby.  Materials  used  should  be  of  such  a  kind 
as  to  be  easily  laundered.  The  older  Junior  girls 
can  keep  the  curtains  freshly  washed  and  ironed 
as  a  class  project.  Older  boys  can  undertake  the 

washing  of  the  woodwork. 

Furniture. — Chairs  should  be  of  a  suitable  height 
for  Junior  girls  and  boys  and  not  left-overs  from 
some  older  group.  Many  schools  cannot  afford 
to  have  chairs  of  varying  sizes  for  the  departments 
above  the  Primary,  but  the  chairs  can  at  least  be 
selected  with  a  view  to  the  comfort  of  the  pupils. 
Some  schools  prefer  the  desk  chairs,  having  their 
Juniors  meet  in  a  more  formal  classroom  atmosphere. 
The  intellectual  effect  of  such  chairs  may  be  good, 
and  the  right  teacher  may  find  them  no  obstacle 
in  the  way  of  a  real  social  feeling.  The  round  or 
square  table,  suitable  for  a  class  of  six  or  eight 
Juniors,  creates  a  social  atmosphere  and  facilitates 
study  and  notebook  work. 

Classroom  necessities. — Each  classroom,  in  addi¬ 
tion  to  a  suitable  table  and  chairs,  should  contain 
a  blackboard,  wall  space  for  maps  or  pictures,  and 
a  drawer  in  the  table,  or  a  small  cabinet  for  sup¬ 
plies.  In  some  schools  in  which  there  is  one  general 
supply  closet  where  things  can  be  stored  during 
the  week,  each  table  has  placed  upon  it  on  Sunday 
mornings  a  reed  basket  tray  or  a  box  (decorated 
by  the  class  with  a  picture  or  design)  which  holds 
pencils,  crayons,  paste,  toothpicks,  extra  quarterlies, 
and  notebooks — anything  necessary  for  lesson  study 
and  classroom  work. 


292 


THE  JUNIOR  DEPARTMENT  AT  WORK 


There  should  be  available,  upon  application  to  the 
supply  secretary,  plastecine  for  maps,  wall  maps 
of  Palestine  and  mission  countries,  and  stereoscopes 
and  stereographs.  The  Junior  room  should  also 
contain  a  sand  table  which  classes  may  use  in  turn. 
Lacking  this,  a  large  dripping  pan  can  be  filled  with 
sand  and  used  for  more  miniature  work  right  on 
the  class  table. 

Pictures. — There  are  some  excellent  books6  now 
published  which  devote  special  chapters  to  pic¬ 
tures  appropriate  for  the  Junior  room.  A  few 
good  pictures,  some  in  colors,  are  better  than  many 
half  good  or  poor  ones.  Too  many  pictures  up  at 
one  time  may  produce  a  cluttered  effect.  They 
should  be  framed  in  simple,  dark  frames  and  each 
picture  should  be  hung  in  relation  to  the  other 
pictures  in  the  room  and  the  wall  space  best  suited 
to  its  size  and  shape. 

Library. — Either  the  church  school  or  the  Junior 
Department  ought  to  have  a  library  of  teachers’ 
reference  books.  This  library  should  contain  a 
right  proportion  of  books  which  will  be  especially 
helpful  to  the  Junior  teacher.  Where  money  is 
available  a  library  of  books  of  missionary  heroism 
to  promote  the  reading  of  such  books  by  the  boys 
and  girls  is  a  good  idea.  Where  public  libraries 
exist,  that  look  out  for  the  reading  of  the  com¬ 
munity  children,  the  church  school  can  use  its 
money  to  best  advantage  by  having  an  up-to-date 
library  of  religious  education  for  parents  and  teachers 
and,  for  the  young  people,  those  books  which  deal 
especially  with  missions,  or  life  ideals,  or  vocations. 


6  Picturesr jn  Religious  Education,  Beard.  The  Use  of  Art  in  Religious  Education, 
Bailey. 

293 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


For  Further  Reading : 

Stout — The  Organization  and  Administration  of 
Religious  Education. 

Betts — The  New  Program  of  Religious  Education. 

Cope — Efficiency  in  the  Sunday  School. 

Evans — The  Sunday  School  Building  and  Its 
Equipment. 

Sunday  School  Departmental  Architecture  for  Chil¬ 
dren's  Groups ,  a  pamphlet  published  jointly 
by  the  General  Sunday  School  Board  and  the 
Board  of  Church  Extension,  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church,  South. 


/ 


294 


CHAPTER  XIX 


THE  JUNIOR  AND  THE  CHURCH 

Religious  education  should  so  train  the  Junior 
that,  increasingly,  he  will  enjoy  receiving  at  the 
hands  of  the  church  its  spiritual  ministries.  It 
should  also  train  him  to  build  his  life  into  the  church, 
and  through  his  devotion  help  it  to  bring  in  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

From  the  moment  when  he  first  has  any  associa¬ 
tions  with  the  church  he  should  feel  that  the  church 
belongs  to  him  and  he  to  the  church.  He  should 
never  have  the  feeling  that  he  is  waiting  until  some 
future  time  to  “belong.”  He  should  never  feel 
that  he  is  affiliated  merely  with  the  church  school 
or  with  any  other  subordinate  part  and  not  with 
the  church  itself.  All  church  organizations  should 
simply  mean  to  him  expressions  of  the  church’s 
interest  in  him,  avenues  through  which  he  can 
serve  the  church. 

It  is  quite  possible  for  a  church  to  grip  its  boys 
and  girls  with  this  feeling  that  it  is  their  enterprise. 
A  few  years  ago  a  large  suburban  church  caught 
fire  in  a  terrific  electrical  storm  and  practically 
burned  to  the  ground.  It  was  the  pioneer  church 
in  the  community  and  it  was  loved  by  old  and 
young,  those  within  and  those  without  the  church. 
In  the  early  morning  hours  everyone  who  could 
turned  out  to  help  save  what  could  be  rescued  from 
the  burning  building.  The  boys  and  girls  were 

295 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


there  in  full  force.  One  of  the  trustees,  suddenly 
remembering  some  important  object,  sent  a  boy 
of  twelve  back  into  the  building  for  it.  When  the 
boy  returned  triumphantly  presenting  the  desired 
article,  the  elderly  trustee  offered  him  a  quarter. 
With  a  look  of  astonishment  and  of  hurt  pride 
which  was  perfectly  genuine,  the  boy  drew  himself 
up  and  said,  “No,  thank  you,  sir,  I  can’t  take  it. 
I  am  a  Boy  Scout,  and,  besides,  this  is  my  church 
as  well  as  yours.” 

“This  is  my  church,”  replied  this  boy  so  recently 
graduated  from  the  Junior  Department.  Had  not 
some  of  his  own  money  helped  to  erect  the  new 
church  house  which  was  now  threatened  by  the 
burning  of  the  old  building?  Did  he  not  worship 
within  its  walls  each  Sunday?  How  often  had  he 
started  from  its  doors  on  his  Scout  hikes  or  played 
a  game  of  basket  ball  in  its  spacious  gymnasium! 
It  was  his  church  by  all  that  it  had  done  for  him 
and  all  that  he  had  done  for  it. 

DEVELOPING  THE  JUNIOR’S  LOYALTY  TO  THE  CHURCH 

The  church  which  is  ministering  to  its  boys  and 
girls  in  a  thoroughgoing  and  competent  way  expects, 
and  will  not  be  disappointed  in  expecting,  in  return 
a  growing  loyalty  to  its  work.  But  in  order  to 
secure  this  loyalty  the  church’s  ministry  to  youth 
must  recognize  certain  attitudes  and  habits  in  the 
child  mind  and  certain  laws  of  child  growth. 

Through  one  united  program  for  Juniors. — If  the 
Junior  is  to  be  loyal  to  the  church  as  a  whole,  and 
not  to  just  some  one  Junior  organization  within 
the  church,  he  must  feel  that  the  church  has  one 
great  all-inclusive  program.  If  there  are  several 

296 


THE  JUNIOR  AND  THE  CHURCH 


entirely  unrelated  programs1 — missionary  and  recre¬ 
ational,  worship  and  service — and  all  lacking  in 
correlation,  the  Junior  becomes  bewildered.  If  he 
is  loyal  at  all,  it  is  to  that  organization  which  offers 
him  the  most  interesting  things  to  do.  If  his  loyalty 
is  divided,  and  his  attitude  toward  some  is  that  of 
indifference,  he  fails  to  make  the  church  as  a  whole 
the  object  of  his  intelligent  devotion. 

The  church  should  control  this  situation  by  placing 
in  the  hands  of  the  church  committee  on  religious 
education  the  entire  power  of  initiating  and  super¬ 
vising  the  work  with  boys  and  girls.  If  suggestions 
of  materials  and  programs  coming  from  different 
organizations  are  to  be  adopted,  let  this  committee 
build  them  all  into  a  single  program.  If  these 
separately  promoted  organizations  are  considered  as 
necessary,  they  should  be  worked  in  as  a  part  of 
the  organized  Junior  Department  or  Junior  class 
work.  Duplication  and  confusion  must  be  avoided. 

As  long  as  boys  and  girls  attend  various  meetings 
and  participate  in  various  programs  apparently 
unrelated  to  each  other,  thus  adding  more  meet¬ 
ings  to  their  already  overcrowded  schedules,  and 
as  long  as  they  contribute  their  money  to  three 
or  four  different  budgets,  they  cannot  be  expected 
to  realize  that  they  are  doing  all  these  things  for 
the  church. 

Through  pleasant  associations  with  the  church.— 

In  one  part  of  his  definition  of  loyalty,  Josiah  Royce 
says  that  it  is  “voluntary  devotion  to  a  cause.” 
Children  tend  to  give  their  voluntary  devotion  to 
that  cause  which  has  for  them  pleasant  associa- 

1  Such  as  Blue  Birds,  Wolf  Cubs,  Junior  Epwortb  League  or  Christian  Endeavor, 
and  the  various  Junior  Missionary  organizations. 

297 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


tions.  This  is  one  reason  for  giving  them  a  program 
of  religious  education  which  meets  their  needs, 
trained  leaders  whom  they  can  admire  and  whom 
they  will  want  to  imitate,  and  a  building  and  equip¬ 
ment  which  will  draw  them  to  the  church  over 
and  over  again  in  preference  to  other  places  of 
interest. 

The  church-school  class  made  interesting,  the 
lesson  taught  vividly,  the  class  hike  out  into  the 
open,  the  “Junior  Jolly”  in  the  gymnasium,  the 
moving  picture  on  a  Friday — all  these  things  mean 
that  the  very  word  “church”  calls  up  a  picture  of 
happiness  in  the  child’s  mind.  Every  moment, 
every  cent,  spent  in  making  the  church’s  program 
interesting  will  yield  a  multiplied  return  in  loyalty 
to  the  church. 

Through  sharing  in  the  financial  support  of  the 
church. — The  Junior  will  feel  that  the  church  be¬ 
longs  to  him,  especially  if  he  is  consciously  helping 
to  support  it.  The  church  should  pay  all  the  ex¬ 
penses  of  the  church  school.  Then  the  boys  and 
girls  should  be  given  the  opportunity  to  pledge 
definite  amounts  to  the  double  budget  of  the  church, 
for  church  expenses  and  for  the  church  missionary 
work.  The  duplex  envelope  system  is  convenient 
and  consistent  with  this  educational  principle. 
Naturally,  the  money  which  they  turn  in  for  church 
expenses  swells  the  general  church  treasury  and 
some  of  it  goes  for  the  support  of  the  church  school. 
But  by  this  system  the  children  are  receiving  a 
broader  education,  and  they  feel  that  the  church 
school  is  not  a  separate  undertaking  of  their  own 
but  is  the  church  working  for  and  with  them. 

Some  churches  arrange  to  have  their  boys  and 

298 


THE  JUNIOR  AND  THE  CHURCH 


girls  make  their  yearly  church  pledges  with  their 
fathers  and  mothers  at  the  time  of  the  every-member 
canvass.  This  helps  to  make  the  children  feel  that 
they  and  their  parents  are  members  of  the  church 
together. 

Children  should  never  be  asked  to  pledge  sup¬ 
port  to  the  church  budget  without  understanding 
what  the  money  is  used  for.  Juniors  take  a  gen¬ 
uine  interest  in  knowing  what  salaries  are  paid, 
how  the  money  provides  textbooks  and  supplies,  and 
pays  for  the  upkeep  of  the  building  and  grounds. 
Boys  and  girls  will  often  be  far  more  careful  of 
church  property  when  they  feel  that  they  are  pay¬ 
ing  money  for  its  care. 

Through  an  intelligent  understanding  of  the 
church’s  history  and  task. — In  the  chapter  on 
curriculum,2  suggestions  have  been  made  of  the 
knowledge  which  Juniors  should  have  of  the  early 
heroes  of  the  church,  of  denominational  heroes 
and  of  the  past  history  and  future  plans  of  their 
own  local  church.  This  knowledge  should  stress 
biography,  organization,  and  program.  Adequate 
provision  should  be  made  in  the  curriculum  and  time 
schedule  for  the  presentation  of  this  material. 

Through  sharing  in  the  work  of  the  church. — 
The  natural  outcome  of  an  intelligent  interest  in  the 
work  of  the  church  is  the  desire  to  share  in  its  work. 
For  that  reason,  Juniors  should  be  made  to  feel 
that  all  the  service  work  which  they  do  in  the  church 
school  is  their  share  in  the  service  of  the  whole  church. 
In  order  that  the  bond  of  loyalty  to  the  church  may 
be  strengthened,  their  service  work  should  include 
some  tasks  performed  for  the  church  itself.3 

*  See  Chapter  XVII,  pp.  268-277. 

299 


2  See  Chapter  IV,  p.  68. 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


THE  JUNIOR  CHURCH 

The  Junior  church  idea  has  been  vigorously  pro¬ 
moted  during  the  last  few  years.  But  it  has  not 
been  clearly  defined.  Different  people  and  churches 
mean  different  things  by  this  term.  It  is  possible 
that  the  Junior  church  idea  may  help  to  unify  for 
the  child  his  various  relations  to  the  church.  But, 
if  it  is  to  do  this,  its  program  must  not  constitute 
simply  one  more  detached  organization  to  which 
the  child  is  urged  to  belong. 

Meaning  of  the  term. — In  some  localities  the 
Junior  church  includes  all  the  children  of  every  age. 
In  others  some  age  limits  are  defined.  Mr.  Cross¬ 
land  suggests  that  the  age  limit  be  from  six  to 
fourteen  or  sixteen.4  Others  limit  the  Junior  church 
to  those  boys  and  girls  who  are  in  the  Junior  De¬ 
partment. 

Not  only  are  varying  age  groups  included  in  the 
Junior  churches,  but  also  varying  programs.  For 
many,  the  Junior  church  is  simply  the  boys  and 
girls  meeting  during  the  adult  church  service  in  a 
separate  room,  or  meeting  at  another  hour,  for 
worship.  In  many  instances  this  plan  has  per¬ 
ceptibly  increased  the  attendance  of  the  children 
at  church  services. 

Some  people  mean  by  the  term  “Junior  church” 
the  boys  and  girls  organized  into  a  church  of  their 
own,  with  committees,  formed  after  the  fashion 
of  the  adult  church  committees — elders,  deacons, 
official  boards,  or  whatever  officers  the  local  church 
employs.  In  this  way  young  people  are  trained 
to  carry  on  the  detailed  work  of  the  church. 

4  Crossland,  The  Junior  Church  in  Action,  p.  27. 

3°° 


THE  JUNIOR  AND  THE  CHURCH 


Advantages  of  a  Junior-church  program. — When 

compared  with  the  two-period  session  of  the  church 
school,5  the  chief  advantages  of  organizing  boys 
and  girls  into  a  Junior  church  are  the  additional 
amount  of  time  available  and  the  fact  that  they 
become  familiar  with  the  problems  of  church  organ¬ 
ization.  When  they  simply  meet  for  a  Junior- 
church  service  of  worship  in  addition  to  the  regular 
church-school  hour,  this  plan  is  very  little  different 
from  that  of  the  plan  suggested  in  Chapter  XIV. 

The  Junior  church,  however,  does  help  the  boys 
and  girls  to  develop  a  church  consciousness,  and 
church  habits  which  are  valuable.  It  makes  possi¬ 
ble  worship  planned  to  meet  the  needs  of  youth 
and  makes  them  sense  the  responsibility  for  the 
management  of  such  service.6  However,  worship 
in  the  departments  of  the  church  school,  should 
be  planned  in  exactly  the  same  way,  so  that  the 
distinct  advantage  of  the  Junior  church  is  that  it 
affords  familiarity  with  the  church  organization 
and  provides  more  time  for  such  carefully  planned 
worship. 

Difficulties  to  be  avoided. — There  are  some 
serious  difficulties  which  are  often  overlooked  by 
the  enthusiasts  of  the  Junior-church  idea.  The 
first  one  is  the  tendency  to  make  the  age  group¬ 
ing  too  inclusive.  Grading  is  just  as  essential  in 
the  Junior  church  as  in  the  church  school.  It  is 
no  easier  for  children  of  widely  different  ages  and 
interests  to  worship  together  in  the  Junior  church 
and  to  work  together  for  its  success  than  in  the 
church  school. 

The  average  children’s  sermon  or  sermonette 

6  See  Chapter  XIII,  p.  211.  6  See  Chapters  XI,  XII,  and  XIII. 

301 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


reveals  this  difficulty.  Pastors,  in  their  efforts  to 
present  the  truth  to  three  or  four  different  psy¬ 
chological  age  groups,  often  hit  wide  of  the  mark 
and  fail  to  reach  any  one  of  the  groups.  The  method 
of  approach,  if  suited  to  the  six-  or  seven-year-old, 
only  amuses  the  fourteen-year-old.  If  the  leader 
of  worship  talks  to  the  adolescents  in  the  group, 
the  younger  ones  get  very  little  out  of  it. 

Another  difficulty  is  the  failure  of  many  Junior 
church  programs  to  correlate  with  the  work  of  the 
different  departments  in  the  church  school.  If 
children  are  to  worship  in  both  the  church  school 
and  the  Junior  church,  there  ought  to  be  the  closest 
correlation  between  the  curriculum  of  worship  in 
both  places.  If  the  Junior  church  is  thought  of  as 
a  church  organization  with  Junior  committees  carry¬ 
ing  out  service  projects,  this  work  also  ought  to  be 
closely  correlated  with  the  service  program  of  the 
Junior  Department  as  outlined  in  Chapter  XVII. 

Suggestions  for  a  Junior-church  program. — A 
Junior-church  program,  to  really  minister  to  the 
needs  of  boys  and  girls,  should  not  be  merely  added 
to  or  superimposed  upon  the  church-school  program. 
There  should  be  one  program  for  all  Juniors,  under 
the  name  of  Junior  church,  or  Junior  Department, 
avoiding  all  duplications  and  overlapping  of  func¬ 
tions. 

Worship  in  the  Junior  church  should  follow  the 
suggestions  for  Junior  worship  as  given  in  Chap¬ 
ters  XI,  XII,  and  XIII.  Sermonettes  should  be 
avoided  and  stories  used  largely.  Worship  in  the 
Junior  church  should  prepare  Juniors  for  the  adult 
service  of  worship. 

Better  results  will  be  obtained  if  the  age  groups 

302 


THE  JUNIOR  AND  THE  CHURCH 


in  the  Junior  church  conform  as  nearly  as  possible 
to  the  church-school  age  groups.  In  this  way, 
training  in  church  loyalty  and  church  responsibility 
can  be  given  under  favorable  conditions.  There 
are  some  advantages  in  having  children  of  different 
ages  working  and  worshiping  together  in  the  Junior 
church  just  as  in  the  adult  church;  age  variation  is 
not  wholly  to  be  condemned.  But  to  secure  these 
advantages  requires  the  most  careful  planning  and 
can  be  done  effectively  only  by  an  experienced  and 
well-trained  leader.  The  practical  difficulties  are 
particularly  embarrassing  where  the  children  from 
the  Primary  Department  meet  with  the  Juniors. 

THE  JUNIOR  AS  A  CHURCH  MEMBER 

Every  child  should  be  considered  a  child  of  the 
church  from  infancy.  Boys,  and  girls  should  grow 
up  in  the  church  always  feeling  themselves  to  be¬ 
long  to  it.  If  the  teachers  and  leaders  in  the  church 
school  are  doing  their  part  well,  the  children  are 
continually  growing  in  “wisdom  and  in  stature 
and  in  favor  with  God  and  man.”  This  does  not 
mean  a  transition  from  overwhelming  disfavor  to 
favor.  It  means  growth  within  the  favor  of  God 
and  likewise  within  the  church. 

Yet  there  are  certain  culminations  in  the  child’s 
development,  times  when  he  feels  religious  awaken¬ 
ings,  sudden  impulses  toward  the  divine  that  differ 
in  power  from  his  more  usual  attitude.  These 
crises  should  be  met  wisely  and  with  some  special 
form  of  preparation  which  will  conserve  the  newly 
awakened  possibilities  of  immediate  religious  devel¬ 
opment.  At  some  of  these  periods  the  child  is 
ready  to  be  promoted  from  his  childish  church 

303 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


allegiance  to  a  more  intelligent  and  voluntary 
service. 

The  time  for  church  membership. — One  of  these 
religious  culminations  often  occurs  about  the  age 
of  eleven  or  twelve.  Many  boys  and  girls  are 
ready,  at  this  time,  to  enter  into  adult  church 
membership.  Third-year  Juniors  are  only  eleven, 
so  that,  often  they  are  not  quite  ready  to  take  this 
step  for  another  year.  They  should  not  be  urged 
or  pushed  beyond  their  development.  Occasionally 
eleven-year-olds  (especially  girls,  as  they  mature 
more  rapidly  than  boys)  are  ready  to  unite  with 
the  church.  In  such  cases  they  should  not  be 
held  back. 

There  is  a  less  perceptible  religious  culmination 
with  some  children  at  about  the  age  of  nine.  Once 
in  a  while  some  nine-year-old  desires  to  become 
a  church  member.  Probably,  for  most  children,  it 
is  just  as  well  to  postpone  this  until  some  later  day, 
as  it  is  difficult  to  explain  to  a  very  young  child 
even  the  simplest  implications  of  church  member¬ 
ship.  But  there  are  cases  when  a  nine-  or  ten- 
year-old  child  is  mature  beyond  his  age  and  very 
persistent  in  his  desire  to  become  a  member.  Great 
tact  should  be  used  and  care  taken  not  to  blight 
this  flowering  of  the  soul.  Parents  and  teachers 
must  study  the  individual  child  and  act  accord¬ 
ingly.  Children  of  this  age  have  been  known  to 
profit  permanently  by  entering  formally  into  the 
membership  covenant. 

Preparation  for  membership. — All  the  work  in 
the  church  school  from  the  kindergarten  up,  sup¬ 
plemented  by  that  done  in  the  home,  ought  to 
constitute  the  Junior’s  real  preparation  for  church 

304 


THE  JUNIOR  AND  THE  CHURCH 


membership.  If  he  has  not  been  prepared  by 
worship  which  has  brought  God  near  to  him,  by 
instruction  that  has  taught  him  how  to  live  as  a 
Christian  and  what  the  church  stands  for,  and  by 
service  which  has  established  habits  of  Christian 
work,  no  short  course  in  the  essentials  of  church 
membership  will  really  prepare  him  to  graduate 
into  the  adult  privileges  and  responsibilities  of  the 
church. 

But  often  it  is  well  for  the  child  to  enter  a  special 
class  taught  by  the  pastor  or  the  director  of  reli¬ 
gious  education.7  Here  he  can  look  back  over  the 
teaching  he  has  received  and  make  a  new  applica¬ 
tion  of  it  to  his  own  life.  What  the  child  needs 
is  not  a  detailed  study,  but  a  new  vision  of  what 
a  “child  of  God”  may  do  and  be  as  a  member  of 
the  church. 

There  are  many  courses  for  such  classes  on  the 
market  at  present.8  Some  of  them  have  been  pre¬ 
pared  with  a  fine  appreciation  of  the  kind  of  prep¬ 
aration  that  really  prepares  a  child  for  loyal  support 
of  the  church. 

The  responsibilities  of  a  Junior  church  member. 

— When  boys  and  girls  enter  the  adult  member¬ 
ship  of  the  church  they  should  feel  that  they  have 
actually  made  a  step  forward.  Not  only  should 
there  be  recognition  of  the  fact  in  the  church  serv¬ 
ice,  in  the  church  school,  and  in  the  home,  but  a 
definite  effort  should  be  made  to  give  them  a  few 
responsibilities  for  the  church — responsibilities  which 
they  have  never  carried  before.  If  the  pastor 
himself  will  suggest  services  which  boys  and  girls 

7  For  other  plans,  see  Hay,  The  Child  in  the  Temple,  1922  edition,  pp.  7,  8. 

8  For  complete  lists  of  such  courses  published  by  the  different  denominations, 
see  The  Church  School,  January,  1923.  PP-  180-181. 

305 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


can  render,  and  if  the  women’s  societies  and  the 
official  board  will  also  suggest  needed  activities 
suitable  for  boys  and  girls,  the  bond  between  the 
child  and  the  church  will  be  strengthened.  All 
such  suggestions  should  be  made  after  consulta¬ 
tion  with  the  Junior  superintendent,  or  the  church 
religious  education  committee,  or  whoever  has 
charge  of  the  Junior  program,  so  that  they  may 
be  included  in  the  regular  service  work  of  the  year. 

For  Further  Reading : 

Crossland — The  Junior  Church  in  Action. 

Hay — The  Child  in  the  Temple. 

Winchester — Making  the  Most  of  Life. 


306 


CHAPTER  XX 


THE  JUNIOR  TEACHER 

Mary  Antin  tells  of  the  Jewish  woman  who 
admonished  her  child  for  disobedience  to  his  teacher. 
“Don’t  you  know,”  asked  the  mother,  “that  teachers 
is  holy?”  Every  teacher,  especially  the  teacher 
of  religion,  ought  to  do  all  in  his  or  her  power  to 
deserve  so  consecrated  a  tribute.  The  “holiness” 
of  teachers  is  not  only  a  gift;  it  is  an  achievement. 
No  one  who  is  not  willing  to  make  some  sacrifice 
ought  to  accept  the  responsibility  of  teaching. 
But  anyone  who  wants  to  give  some  form  of  definite 
Christian  service  will  find  no  field  where  the  re¬ 
wards  and  compensations  of  sacrifice  are  more 
satisfying  than  in  the  teaching  of  girls  and  boys. 

There  are  some  qualifications  which  the  teacher 
of  Juniors  shares  in  common  with  all  teachers. 
There  are  others  which  are  especially  necessary 
for  successful  work  in  the  Junior  Department. 

QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE  JUNIOR  TEACHER 

In  any  normal  class,  if  the  students  are  asked 
what  they  consider  the  first  essential  of  a  good 
teacher,  they  almost  invariably  reply,  “Personality.” 
“Personality”  may  cover  a  multitude  of  sins  or  of 
accomplishments.  What  are  the  most  desirable 
personal  traits  and  how  can  they  be  acquired? 

Many  of  the  qualities  which  go  to  make  up  the 
intangible  thing  we  call  “personality”  can  be 

307 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


differentiated  so  that  a  teacher  may  work  at  the 
process  of  acquiring  them.  Of  course,  over  and 
above  these  qualities,  there  is  a  certain  charm  of 
manner,  a  certain  force  of  character  that  consti- 
tute  individuality.  Not  all  share  equally  in  this 
indefinable  power.  The  director  of  religious  educa¬ 
tion  or  the  Junior  superintendent,  in  looking  for 
teachers  for  the  Junior  Department,  will  naturally 
look  for  people  who  have  enthusiasm  and  vitality, 
who  dress  neatly,  who  are  sympathetic  and  friendly, 
whose  whole  personalities  are  such  as  to  attract 
girls  and  boys  and  whose  example  is  one  which  we 
want  youth  to  imitate.  All  of  the  qualities  men¬ 
tioned  above  can  be  cultivated  by  those  who  really 
desire  them. 

Willingness  and  ability  to  acquire  skill  in  teach¬ 
ing. — There  is  one  essential  qualification  for  the 
teacher  of  Juniors  which  ought  to  receive  special 
mention.  The  teacher  of  adolescents  may  be  one 
who  naturally  understands  youth  and  who  can  be 
a  friend  and  a  leader.  The  teacher  of  Juniors 
must  not  only  be  all  those  things,  but  he  or  she 
must  be  one  who  has  a  natural  aptitude  for  school¬ 
room  methods.  The  teaching  methods  for  Juniors 
follow  so  closely  those  in  use  in  the  public-school 
room  that  a  Junior  teacher  ought  either  to  have 
had  some  knowledge  of  public-school  teaching  or 
ought  to  be  willing  to  enroll  in  training  classes  and 
acquire  skill  in  the  methods  used  in  all  elementary 
grades. 

That  is  one  reason  why  women  so  often  find  it 
easier  to  teach  Juniors  than  do  men.  The  average 
woman  has  more  of  the  innate  aptitude  for  teach¬ 
ing.  She  is  used  to  handling  details  and  finds  it 

308 


THE  JUNIOR  TEACHER 


easier  to  manage  notebook  work  and  sand-table 
modeling,  pasting,  and  cutting  and  painting  than 
the  average  man.  She  deals  more  often  and  more 
directly  with  children’s  problems.  She  easily  ac¬ 
quires  familiarity  with  the  tricks  of  discipline 
which  are  necessary  to  maintain  order  among 
energetic  Juniors.  Men  are  ordinarily  more  remote 
from  actual  everyday  dealings  with  girls  and  boys. 
This  does  not  mean  that  men  should  not  teach  the 
classes  of  Junior  boys.  We  need  more  and  more 
the  teaching  influence  of  strong  men.  But,  whether 
man  or  woman,  the  Junior  teacher  must  be  one 
who  is  willing  to  learn  all  the  teaching  devices,  and 
in  order  to  learn  them  he  must  be  one  who  has 
a  natural  aptitude  for  this  particular  kind  of  teach- 
ing. 

Adaptability. — The  Junior  teacher  must  be  very 
adaptable.  A  class  of  Juniors  contains  many  sur¬ 
prises.  The  unexpected  is  always  occurring.  No 
one  who  is  easily  “bothered”  or  who  has  unad- 
justable  “old-maidish”  tendencies  ought  to  try  to 
teach  Juniors. 

The  ability  to  play. — The  teacher  of  Juniors 
ought  to  be  generously  blessed  with  the  play  spirit. 
The  Junior  lives  in  a  world  of  play.  He  who  would 
enter  the  Junior’s  world  must  do  it  through  the 
door  of  play.  He  must  quickly  recognize  when  the 
spirit  of  play  is  dominating  his  Juniors.  He  must 
be  able  to  get  out  and  play  with  them  occasionally 
and  must  understand  how  to  use  the  play  spirit 
in  the  classroom. 

Sense  of  humor. — A  sense  of  humor  is  an  asset 
for  any  teacher.  Perhaps  the  Junior  teacher  needs 
an  unusually  large  share  of  it.  It  is  not  easy  to 

309 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


be  patient  with  Juniors  at  all  times.  They  annoy 
us,  they  disappoint  us,  they  misbehave  and  are 
often  very  trying.  A  woman  who  had  been  for 
years  an  unusually  successful  grade-school  principal 
once  said  to  an  anxious  young  mother,  “My  mother 
used  to  tell  me  never  to  let  a  child  know  that  he 
could  bother  me.”  That  teacher  who  never  shows 
that  she  is  annoyed,  who  can  see  how  funny  some 
things  are,  who  can,  above  all,  get  her  Juniors  to 
laugh  with  her  and  who  can  turn  a  troublesome 
incident  into  something  to  laugh  at,  will  find  the 
problem  of  classroom  discipline  easy  to  solve. 

The  open  mind. — There  is  one  essential  qualifi¬ 
cation  of  every  teacher  and  that  is  what  some  one 
has  called  the  “open  mind.”  The  teacher  is  the 
leader,  the  interpreter,  often  the  revealer  of  life. 
Life  is  a  growing,  changing  thing.  He  can  best 
teach  youth  what  life  means  and  how  to  live  it 
who  is  constantly  seeking  to  understand  it  better 
himself.  The  teacher  should  recognize  that  truth 
is  not  absolute,  that  he  also  is  a  student  as  well  as 
a  teacher.  No  one  who  has  closed  his  mind  to  possi¬ 
ble  new  ideas  on  biblical  interpretation  or  scientific 
discovery  or  educational  methods  should  be  on  a 
teaching  force.  In  selecting  Junior  teachers,  beware 
of  the  person  who  is  sure  he  “knows  it  all.” 

Honesty  in  words,  life,  and  purpose. — The  Junior 
teacher  should  live  all  the  qualities  which  he  wishes 
his  Juniors  to  emulate.  They  are  quick  to  detect 
insincerity  of  any  kind.  They  should  feel  that 
the  teacher  is  deeply  in  earnest  in  all  that  he  says 
or  does,  and  that  he  expects  them  to  take  seriously 
the  class  work  which  is  their  joint  undertaking. 

Variety  of  interests. — One  of  the  things  which 

310, 


THE  JUNIOR  TEACHER 


make  for  a  richness  of  personality  is  variety  of 
interest.  One  of  the  greatest  of  incentives  for  those 
of  us  who  are  older  to  live  richly  and  deeply  is  just 
that  we  may  be  able  to  enrich  the  lives  of  boys 
and  girls.  “For  their  sakes  I  sanctify  myself.” 
Since  children  differ  so,  one  from  another,  we  must 
approach  each  child  from  a  distinct  point  of  view. 
In  order  that  a  teacher  may  do  this  he  must  have 
many  points  of  contact.  He  must  stay  persistently 
in  the  presence  of  the  best  in  books,  in  music,  in 
nature.  . 

Deep  Christian  experience. — After  all,  all  that 
any  teacher  has  to  give  to  his  pupils  is  himself. 
All  each  of  us  can  give  is  ourselves.  And  if  we  are 
to  train  Junior  Christians,  we  must  first  of  all  have 
a  deep  experience  of  Christianity  ourselves.  Some 
one  has  said,  “It  is  not  the  story  in  the  lesson  quar¬ 
terly  that  you  can  build  into  the  lives  of  your 
class;  it  is  the  story  in  you.”  On  a  mountain  trail 
we  choose  as  a  guide  the  one  who  has  first  followed 
the  way  and  knows  its  every  turn.  And  our  Chris¬ 
tian  experience  must  be  a  growing  one.  The  teacher 
must  enrich  his  personality  not  only  aesthetically 
and  intellectually,  but  spiritually.  The  following 
resolve  is  the  resolve  of  every  earnest  teacher: 

“I  will  hew  great  spaces,  huge  places  of  life  for  my  soul, 
I  will  seek  me  a  way  no  man  has  trod, 

I  will  blaze  new  trails  to  the  heart  of  God.”1 

THE  TEACHER  AND  THE  CHILD 

We  have  seen  that  church-school  teaching  is 
more  than  pouring  in  knowledge,  that  we  are  teach- 

1  Angela  Morgan,  The  Hour  Has  Struck,  Dodd,  Mead  &  Company. 

31 1 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


ing  “a  child,  not  a  book.”  We  are  concerned  with 
human  lives  and  we  want  to  help  girls  and  boys  to 
live  divinely  in  their  human  relationships.  The 
teacher  becomes  intimately  bound  up  with  the 
growing  life  of  every  pupil  in  his  group. 

Studying  the  individual  child. — In  order  that  the 
Junior  teacher  may  really  help  Junior  girls  and 
boys  to  live,  he  must  know  not  only  the  general 
laws  of  child  nature  and  nurture,  but  he  must  learn, 
against  the  background  of  these  laws,  to  study  each 
child  individually.  That  is  one  purpose  of  the 
record  card  and  the  home  questionnaire.  Teaching 
becomes  fascinating  when  it  concerns  itself  with 
individuals  in  the  making.  To  know  each  child 
well  enough  to  understand  his  varying  moods, 
his  changes  of  attitude,  his  better  and  his  less  fine 
moments — this  is  to  be  able  to  teach  with  vision. 

The  teacher  the  child’s  friend. — Such  knowledge 
of  the  individual  child  will  make  the  teacher  so 
sympathetic  that  he  can  enter  into  each  child’s 
experiences.  Juniors  should  come  to  feel  that  in 
their  teacher  they  have  found  a  real  companion, 
one  who  will  go  on  a  hike  and  build  a  camp  fire, 
or  who  will  enter  understanding^  into  their  home 
and  school  experiences.  It  is  well  if,  occasionally, 
the  Junior  teacher  can  arrange  to  call  in  the  home, 
not  just  on  the  parents,  but  for  a  personal  call  on 
the  child.  Go  up  to  the  boy’s  room  and  enjoy  his 
radio  apparatus  with  him.  Take  a  walk  after  school 
with  the  girl  and  her  chum.  Fortunate  is  that 
teacher  who  is  so  situated  that  she  or  he  can  at 
times  invite  the  whole  class  or  individuals  into  his 
or  her  own  home. 

Praying  for  the  child. — In  prayer  there  is  a 

312 


THE  JUNIOR  TEACHER 


source  of  power  for  the  teacher.  He  is  a  co-worker 
with  God  in  the  creation  of  men  and  women.  He 
may  pray  for  every  child  in  his  group  and  feel 
confident  that  these  prayers  will  endow  him  with 
strength  to  understand  what  to  do,  to  discover 
better  methods,  and  to  help  girls  and  boys  to  meet 
their  everyday  problems  in  the  Christian  spirit. 

THE  TEACHER  AND  THE  HOME 

That  teacher  who  is  the  child’s  friend  knows  his 
home  conditions.  Yet,  in  spite  of  individual  teach¬ 
ers  who  find  it  possible  to  become  familiar  with 
the  home  life  of  their  pupils,  the  church  school, 
as  a  whole,  has  yet  far  to  go  in  securing  the  most 
practical  kind  of  cooperation  with  the  homes.  In 
order  that  the  results  of  teaching  in  the  church 
school  may  be  conserved,  there  ought  to  be  the 
closest  kind  of  partnership  between  the  home  and 
the  school. 

Visiting  in  the  child’s  home. — We  have  already 
suggested  the  advisability  of  the  teacher  going  to 
the  home  for  friendly  calls.  Sometimes,  at  the 
beginning,  these  calls  may  have  to  be  merely  social 
in  a  general  way.  But  often  the  time  comes  when 
teacher  and  parent  together  may  sit  down  and 
agree  on  what  John  most  needs  in  the  way  of  train¬ 
ing  or  how  Mary’s  needs  can  best  be  met. 

Miss  Rankin,  of  Teachers  College,  has  worked 
out  a  simple  plan  by  which  the  parents  of  Begin¬ 
ners  make  notes  in  a  small  notebook  of  any  indica¬ 
tions  in  the  home  life  that  the  lessons  of  the  church 
school  are  taking  effect.  These  notebooks  became 
the  basis  of  a  mutual  interest  in  the  child  on  the 
part  of  teacher  and  parent.  Some  adaptation  of 

3i3 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


this  plan  might  be  worked  out  for  the  Junior  De¬ 
partment. 

Working  with  the  parents. — Fathers  and  mothers 
are  often  vague  as  to  just  what  their  children  are 
doing  in  the  church  school  and  just  what  is  ex¬ 
pected  of  them  as  parents,  because  they  have  not 
been  explicitly  informed.  They  would  be  glad  to 
help  if  they  knew  how.  A  good  plan  is  to  let  the 
children  in  each  Junior  class  plan  an  afternoon 
party  for  their  mothers  early  in  the  fall.  If  they 
plan  it  themselves  and  feel  that  they  are  running 
it,  they  will  be  likely  to  drag  even  reluctant  parents 
to  the  celebration. 

With  the  teacher’s  help,  they  can  plan  a  little 
program,  either  of  individual  musical  numbers  and 
recitations,  or  a  brief  dramatization.  Then  let 
some  friend  of  the  teacher,  or  the  substitute  teacher, 
take  the  children  out  of  doors  or  into  another  room 
for  a  few  games,  while  the  teacher  herself  passes 
around  the  pupils’  notebooks  and  explains  the 
course  of  study  for  the  year. 

The  Junior  superintendent  will  say  a  word  about 
the  aims  of  the  Junior  Department,  how  the  goal 
is  to  really  help  boys  and  girls  to  live  better  lives. 
She  may  speak  briefly  of  the  place  which  the  service 
of  worship  plays  in  this  program  and  also  of  the 
service  activities.  The  mothers  should  go  away 
with  a  few  definite  suggestions  as  to  how  to  help 
the  children  with  their  work.  After  this  short  con¬ 
ference  let  the  Juniors  come  back  and  serve  the 
refreshments  which  they  have  prepared  themselves. 
If  they  are  boys,  they  might  end  the  afternoon’s 
program  by  a  rousing  cheer  for  “our  mothers.” 
Girls  might  do  the  same  or  sing  a  song  to  them. 

3*4 


THE  JUNIOR  TEACHER 


Some  large  schools  always  plan  near  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  the  school  year  a  six-o’clock  dinner  for  all 
the  parents  of  the  church  school.  The  officers  and 
teachers  of  the  school  are  in  the  receiving  line  and 
welcome  every  parent.  At  one  such  recent  event 
each  parent  was  given  a  white  ribbon  for  every 
Cradle-Roll  child,  a  red  ribbon  for  every  child  in 
the  Primary  Department,  a  blue  one  for  children 
who  were  Juniors,  and  so  on. 

After  the  dinner,  around  the  tables,  there  is  a 
well-planned  program  of  toasts  which  reveal  the 
manifold  work  of  the  church  school.  Some  years 
the  superintendent  of  each  department  tells  briefly 
of  the  aims  and  plan  of  work  of  his  department. 
Another  year,  the  toasts  might  include  “How  we 
Worship/’  “How  we  Study,”  “How  we  Serve,” 
“How  we  Play”  throughout  the  entire  school. 

It  is  well  to  vary  the  plan  of  program  from  year 
to  year.  Occasionally  it  will  seem  best  to  invite 
some  speaker  from  outside  who  understands  the 
task  of  religious  education,  though  it  is  often  better 
to  deal  concretely  with  the  work  of  the  school. 
The  toasts  should  terminate  in  plenty  of  time  for 
each  department  group  of  officers  and  teachers  to 
retire  to  its  own  room  or  to  some  corner  in  the  general 
room,  if  it  is  a  one-room  school,  where  they  receive 
the  parents  whose  children  are  in  their  particular 
departments.  If  possible,  it  is  well,  at  such  a  meet¬ 
ing,  to  have  on  exhibit  the  handwork  of  the  children, 
notebooks,  maps,  sand  table  stories,  models,  etc. 
Parents  enjoy  this,  and  it  makes  the  work  con¬ 
crete. 

A  meeting  of  this  kind  can  be  varied  by  letting 
the  boys  and  girls  themselves  tell  what  they  are 

3i5 


JUNIOR  METHOD  IN  THE  CHURCH  SCHOOL 


doing  in  the  church  school.  A  few  can  be  selected 
who  can  best  present  the  work. 

Such  a  program  could  be  put  on  by  a  Junior  De¬ 
partment  alone  instead  of  by  the  entire  church  school. 

On  Mother’s  Day  the  mothers  of  the  Juniors  may 
be  their  guests  at  the  regular  session  of  the  church 
school.  The  opening  service  can  have  a  theme 
appropriate  for  Mother’s  Day  and  the  mothers 
can  visit  the  classes  afterward.  A  Father’s  Day 
service  may  be  held  by  a  similar  plan.  Mothers 
and  Daughters  and  Fathers  and  Sons  banquets  have 
been  popular  in  the  last  few  years  and  have  been 
very  successful  in  cementing  the  ties  between 
parents  and  children  and  between  both  parents  and 
children  and  the  church. 

When  a  report  of  the  Junior’s  work  is  sent  to  the 
home,  provision  should  be  made  for  a  definite  reply 
from  the  parents.  Attached  to  the  report  may  be 
a  form  slip  which  the  parent  may  merely  sign  and 
return  if  he  does  not  wish  to  do  more.  But  there 
should  be  room  enough  for  remarks  by  the  parent. 
At  least  there  should  be  some  indication  that  the 
report  has  been  read. 

THE  SOURCE  OF  POWER 

Sara  Cone  Bryant,  in  her  advice  to  story-tellers, 
says,  “The  secret  of  story-telling  lies  not  in  fol¬ 
lowing  rules,  not  in  analyzing  processes,  not  even 
in  following  good  models,  though  these  are  neces¬ 
sary,  but,  first  of  all  in  being  full — full  of  the  story, 
the  picture,  the  children — and  then  in  being  morally 
and  spiritually  up  to  concert  pitch,  which  is  the 
true  source  of  power  in  anything.”2  Not  only  of 

2  Bryant,  Stories  and  Story-Telling,  D.  Appleton  &  Company,  publishers. 

316 


THE  JUNIOR  TEACHER 


story-telling  is  this  true,  but  of  the  whole  teaching 
process.  The  teacher  must  be  “morally  and  spir¬ 
itually  up  to  concert  pitch.” 

Moral  and  spiritual  power  come  from  daily  com¬ 
panionship  with  the  One  who  is  himself  the  source 
of  spiritual  power  and  whose  power  is  available 
for  every  child  of  his  for  the  asking.  Jesus,  the 
Great  Teacher,  was  buoyed  up  by  the  sense  of  his 
Father’s  power.  So  may  every  teacher  feel  who 
follows  in  his  steps. 

“O  teach  me,  Lord,  that  I  may  teach 
The  precious  things  thou  dost  impart; 

And  wing  my  words,  that  they  may  reach 
The  hidden  depths  of  many  a  heart.” 


317 


INDEX 


Activity — of  the  Junior,  34,  37;  mental,  39;  curriculum  of,  60-61; 
to  secure  interest,  99,  100,  102;  education  through,  219-231; 
testing,  230-231 

Aims — of  religious  education,  45-51;  of  worship,  173,  177 

Attitudes — of  parents,  18;  toward  church,  28-29;  toward  religion, 
43;  desirable,  48-51;  in  class,  104;  recording,  105;  toward  the 
story,  138;  toward  prayer,  193— 195 ;  in  dramatization,  246-247 

Bible,  The — in  the  Junior  curriculum,  66-67;  use  of,  72-76;  in 
existing  courses,  79-87;  enriching,  89-91;  books  about,  91-92; 
stories  from,  144-146,  152 

Books — world  of,  20;  reading,  37;  lists  of,  91-92,  152-155;  for  the 
teacher,  91-92;  class,  132-133;  in  the  Junior  room,  241;  scrap, 
237,  241,  268ff.;  teacher’s  library  of,  293 

Child,  The — characteristics  of,  31-43 

Church — and  community,  15,  25-26;  and  moving  picture,  25-26; 
in  Junior’s  life,  27,  28-29,  295-298;  service  for  the,  268fL;  Junior’s 
loyalty  to,  296-299;  The  Junior,  300-302;  membership  for  Juniors, 
303-305 

Class — participation  by  the,  104;  period,  121-137;  book,  132-133; 
program,  136-137;  worship,  210;  organization,  281-282;  records, 
287 ;  service  activities,  268ff . ;  equipment  for  the,  290-292 

.Community — The  Junior’s,  21-28;  issues  in  the  curriculum,  64; 
world,  27;  service  for  the,  26811. 

Companions — in  school,  19;  in  play  time,  22-24,  35;  influence  of, 
27-28;  adult,  27,  40,  312;  teachers  as,  40,  312 

Conduct — in  the  home,  17-18,  287,  313;  habits  of,  42-43,  51;  as 
aim  of  religious  education,  48-51,  231 ;  Junior’s  capacity  for,  51-53 ; 
curriculum  and,  62;  as  result  of  teaching,  105,  231 ;  in  class,  104, 
134;  story  and,  140-141;  stories,  152;  worship  and,  175-176; 
hymns  of,  187-188;  project  method  and,  226-248;  dramatization 
and,  246-247 

Curriculum — for  the  Junior  child,  59-72;  of  activity,  60,  219-277; 
of  information,  61-72;  of  worship,  61,  181-184;  how  to  use  the, 
72-76;  enriching  the,  89-92 

Department — projects,  228-229;  testing  activity  of,  230-231; 
program,  243-244;  service  activities,  268ff.;  organization  of,  279- 
285;  purpose  of,  279-280;  relation  to  other  groups,  296-297; 
relation  to  church,  296-299,  302-303 

Differences — in  home  atmosphere,  16-18;  in  attitude  of  homes, 
18;  in  environment,  21-22;  in  children,  32-33,  57 

318 


INDEX 


Dramatization — of  lesson  story,  ioi,  130;  as  method  of  teaching, 
1 19;  in  worship,  186;  value  of,  245-247;  methods  used  in,  247- 
253;  materials  suitable  for,  253;  use  of,  254-256;  sources  of,  256- 
257 

Equipment — for  Junior  Department,  289-293 

Habits — importance  of,  43;  of  conduct,  51;  formed  in  church  school, 
124,  228 

Home — the  Junior’s,  16-18;  working  with  the,  288,  313-316 

Hymns — suitable  forjjuniors,  187-190;  learning  new, '192;  illustrating, 
238 

Information — about  world  questions,  27,  64;  curriculum  of,  61-72; 
of  the  teacher,  90-91,  308-309;  about  the  church,  299;  about 
service  needs,  268ff . ;  about  church  membership,  304-305 

Interests — of  the  Junior  child,  35-38;  curriculum  based  upon 
Junior,  6  iff. 

Lesson — courses,  79-88;  period,  121-137;  types,  106-110 

Lists — of  books  for  the  teacher,  91-92;  of  stories  for  Juniors,  152- 
155;  of  Bible  stories,  152;  of  ethical  stories,  152;  of  hero  stories, 
153;  of  missionary  stories,  1 53-1 54;  of  worship  stories,  199;  of 
worship  materials,  199-200;  of  services  of  worship,  212-218;  of 
service  activities,  268-277 

Manual  Work — as  a  teaching  method,  118;  reasons  for,  233-236; 
types  of,  236-241;  motives  involved,  241-243;  when  to  use,  243- 
244 

Memory — lesson,  108-109;  how  to  train  the,  116-118 

Method — contrasted  with  devices,  56-57;  the  question-and-answer, 
1 12;  the  discussion,  113;  the  lecture,  115;  the  memory,  116;  the 
manual,  118;  the  observation,  118;  the  story,  119;  the  dramatic, 
1 19,  247-252;  the  project,  1 19-120,  221-225 

Missionary  Education — attitudes  developed  by,  49-51;  curric¬ 
ulum  of,  63-65,  68,  81,  88,  153-154,  268-277;  movement,  88;  stories 
for,  141-143,  147,  150,  153-154;  developed  through  worship, 
184-185,  190,  213-214,  217;  developed  through  prayer,  194,  261; 
developed  through  projects,  228-230;  developed  through  service, 
259-261,  263-277;  developed  through  giving,  298 

Motives — for  study,  59,  94-96,  100,  126-130,  134;  for  memorizing, 
1 16;  social,  153;  for  manual  work,  241-243;  preventing  false,  265- 
266 

Moving  picture — influence  on  child,  24-25;  influence  on  church- 
school  teaching,  26;  church  control  of,  25-26;  church  use  of,  26 

Music — appropriate  for  Juniors,  187-190;  in  the  curriculum,  72; 
leadership  of,  191-192 

Organization — purposes  of,  279-280;  pupil,  280-283;  adult,  283-285; 
of  Junior  church,  301-303 

Overlapping — of  Junior  organizations,  296-297,  302 

Pictures — in  the  curriculum,  71;  in  textbooks,  71;  sources  of,  92; 

3I9 


INDEX 


stereoscope,  ioi;  in  teaching,  118-119;  stories  about,  154;  in 
worship,  183 

Plan — the  teacher’s,  135-136;  of  classroom  procedure,  136-137; 
of  worship  program,  201-2 11 

Play — child’s  world  of,  21-22;  in  the  city,  22;  in  the  country,  22-23; 
how  children,  23-24,  38;  spirit  in  teaching,  125;  teacher’s  ability 
to,  309 

Project — method,  119,  221;  definition  of  a,  222-225;  values  of, 
226-227;  examples  of,  228-230 

Prayer — hymns,  189;  the  Junior’s  attitude  toward,  192-194;  by 
Juniors,  195;  training  Juniors  in,  196 

Pupil — interest  of,  97-100;  preparation  of,  94-97;  participation  by, 
104-105;  initiative  of,  132,  221,  224;  self-government,  134,  280- 
283;  leadership,  279,  280 

Reading — guiding  the  Junior’s,  20-21;  Junior’s  interest  in,  20,  37 

Records — purpose  of,  286;  useful  types  of,  286-288;  how  to  use,  289; 
teachers',  312 

Religion — Junior’s  response  to,  43;  Junior’s  capacity  for,  51-56 

Service — training  in,  259-267;  activities  for  Juniors,  268-277 

Social — recitation,  131-134;  teachings,  133;  motives  emphasized, 
133-134 

Story — power  of  the,  138-141;  interests  of  Juniors,  141-143;  types 
of,  143-146;  when  to  use  the,  149-151;  sources  of,  151-155;  out¬ 
line  of  a  good,  159-162;  preparing  the,  162-165;  how  to  tell  the, 
166-169 

Study — securing  home,  94-95,  124;  motivating  the  Junior’s,  59, 
95796;  supervising  the  Junior’s,  96,  125-131;  reasons  for  super¬ 
vising,  123-125 

Supervision — of  Junior’s  study,  96,  125-131;  reasons  for,  123-125 

Teacher,  The — responsibility  of,  29,  32;  qualifications  of,  307-31 1; 
training  of,  93,  308;  and  the  child,  311-312;  and  the  home,  313- 
315;  source  of  power  for,  317 

Teaching — art  of,  93-105;  preparation  for,  94;  testing  results  of, 
1 03- 1 05;  methods  of,  1 1 2-1 19;  conditions  of,  121-123 

Worship — importance  of,  170;  character  of,  171-173;  aims  of,  173- 
177;  how  Juniors,  177-179;  elements  of  a  service  of,  181-199; 
source  materials  for,  199-200;  necessary  conditions  for,  201-208; 
place  of,  in  department  program,  209-212;  types  of  Junior  services 
of,  212-218;  pupil  leadership  of,  206-207 


320 


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